Sailor Senshi Next Generation
by Lordess
Summary: The princess of Venus seems to have it in for the princess of Jupiter. The feeling is mutual.
1. Part 1: Surfacing

Authors Note: HELLO!!! this is my first Sailor Moon fanfiction on Fanfiction.net. It's only the first part out of four, so I hope you enjoy what I have finished. Give me reviews, k? Arigatou!!! :)  
~Lordess  
  
When I was young, I was told many stories about how grand the Earth was. How the sky was magnificent shades of blue, the golden sun would hang in the sky and illuminate the clouds and the creatures below. And the crystal palace stood at the center of all happiness, the sun's rays dancing off it's glass surface... And that was just by day...  
From the stories, the night was even more magnificent than the day. The white moon would shine from it's resting place among the blanket of stars that filled the night's sky. The crystal palace was illuminated by lights and seemed to glow from within, letting all the people know that as long as the palace stood, there would always be hope.  
But that was all many years ago... Now everything has changed... The grass is no longer green, but a dead yellow and brown. The trees are black and wrench in pain. The city is destroyed, no traces of life anywhere... The sun and moon are always hidden by a sky filled with dismal gray clouds and it is usually raining... And the palace...  
It does not glow with the same intensity as it used to... In fact... it is not there at all... The crystal palace, home to the noble Queen Serenity, savior of our world, has been smashed... Now only lies shattered pieces of glass all over the city... And where it used to stand, now is a dangerous place to go... Because that's where the darkness arose to build it's own castle of black...   
The royal family, rulers of this world, have been killed, trying to protect the very hope of the people. But when the crystal palace shattered, along with the silver imperial crystal, the hopes of the people were cracked as well...   
The four guardians stayed to try and defend what was left of the city, but were destroyed with it... The mighty outer guardians came as well, all but the guardian of time, and all failed miserably... Earth was destroyed...  
Yet as I stand alone on the ground that used to be my home, I can't help but find my own hope among the rumble. The dark winds splatter the rain drops harshly against my pale skin and dampen my purple hair that feel loosely from it's high ponytail. My deep blue eyes watched the darkening skies and I knew that night was slowly approaching.  
It had finally come... the moment that all of us, the ladies of the court and I, had been waiting for... We were finally going to defeat the darkness that had invaded my planet... But perhaps I should start far previous to this day... Yes... at the beginning... that is always a good place to start...  
  
*Sailor Senshi Next Generation Part 1: Surfacing*  
  
"I understand this will be a hard task to undertake..."  
"I am ready..."  
"But are you willing?"  
"Of course... It is my planet that needs saving... I will do anything to make sure it lives on..."  
"What news of your father's disappearance?"  
"None... and I fear there will be none..."  
"Forgive me for asking such an impertinent question... I know it must anger you..."  
"It does not..."  
The guardian of time looked at me carefully, her deep crimson eyes searching my own blue ones for any sign of falter and got only pure strength in return. Her dark emerald hair feel loosely behind her, draping itself across her deep crimson dress that wrapped around her body. A symbol, burned into her forehead seemed to glow with the same intensity as her eyes.  
"You know what you must do now...?" she asked, forming it as a question. I gave a slow nod, my long bangs falling into my face as I did so.   
"I presume I must gather the next generation..." I replied, holding my strength not only in my stance, but voice as well. Though I appeared strong, my body, covered with blue and green leather seemed to shake with the uneasiness that lie within...  
The guardian gave a nod herself. "As you know, the civilizations of the planetary system have been reborn again... The kingdoms that existed during the Silver Millennium are thriving once more..." she said, speaking through her ruby red lips. "You must re-unite the princess' of the planets and revive the Sailor Senshi once again..."  
"And what of the moon princess?"  
"I am afraid that there is no successor to the moon kingdom..." Her voice strained to find suitable words to make it easier for my already weary heart to bear. I gave a heavy sigh.  
"I believed so..." I replied, feeling my strength and pride begin to slowly decrease from the worry that I carried on my shoulders. Such a heavy burden... "The silver imperial crystal was shattered during the battle... and the entire royal family was killed..."  
"Do not loose hope, guardian of earth..." the time guardian said, trying to bring back the hope I had lost so many years ago. "Once you re-unit the Senshi of the Next Generation, and collect the shattered pieces, the silver crystal shall find itself a new holder..."  
"How would it be possible to find all the shattered pieces?" Anger rose in my voice, no matter how hard I tried to suppress it, the strain was well heard. After a moment of silence, I lowered my head, ashamed of my actions. "Forgive me Lady Pluto..."  
"No need for forgiveness..." the guardian replied. "I understand that you've been through much more than I'll be able to imagine..."  
"Thank you for understanding my sorrow Guardian of Time... But I still find it hard to believe that I'll be able to find all the pieces of the silver crystal... They were scattered during the battle..."  
"You have a large piece of the crystal already, do you not?"  
I remained silent, watching the Lady Pluto carefully.  
"And what of the crystal your mother gave you...? The crystal of the representative of earth?"  
For a moment, I did not reply. My hand reached into my pocket, feeling over two objects. A frown formed over my face as I pulled the two objects out and let my fingers trace over them, as if memorizing ever crack, ever indentation...   
One was a rather small piece of crystal, dull and faded, looking as if it were dead as the earth was now. The other object was a golden locket that had been given to me as a small child. A golden ribbon hung from it, tied neatly into a perfect bow, and etched across the locket's lid, the circle symbol with the cross in it... The symbol of earth... Inside, I knew, lay the crystal that had been my mother's before mine...  
The guardian of time shifted in the silence, resting herself slightly against the time staff she held in her hand. "Both these items will help you to locate the other pieces of the broken silver imperial crystal..." Lady Pluto explained. "And then, with the help of the Senshi of the Next Generation, you will be able to defeat the darkness and banish them away from Earth once and for all..."  
"But beware..." the Lady warned, her eyes growing slim with anger. "Should your enemies get a hold of the crystal, they will be able to use it for their own... Only then is hope truly lost..."  
I took a deep breath and bowed before the Lady Pluto. "I thank you for your council... and your advice..." I said before rising. "But before I leave, I must ask you an impertinent question, Setsuna..."  
The Lady Pluto winced, not exactly expecting me to use such an informal name to address her by. A smile spread across her face, amused at the sound of her own name. "Ask away Riana..." she said simply.  
"What of your successor?"  
I could tell I had caught her off guard... It amused me to see the Lady Pluto blush lightly from slight embarrassment. She cleared her throat before answering... "I have no successor... I am still in position of the Senshi of Pluto... and I shall join you later in your quest..."  
"Oh? I have the pleasure of fighting beside the legendary soldier of Pluto?" There was a hint of mockery in my voice, and a wide smirk on my lips.  
"Don't push it Riana..." the guardian of time warned, trying to frown, but amused at my mockery, even if it was towards her. "For now I have business to attend to dealing with the Time Space..."  
"Understood Lady Pluto..." This time I spoke with honest sincerity, bowing once more before the Lady of Pluto. "I shall send word once I have retrieved the new planetary senshi..."   
The guardian of time nodded in agreement, and I took hint that now was a good time to leave the Lady Pluto to her business. I turned silently and left the room where Lady Pluto stood. "Till next time Setsuna... Sailor Pluto..." I said before walking through the doors of her chambers.   
"Keep safe, Riana..." Lady Pluto replied. "Sailor Earth..."  
And the doors of her chambers closed...  
  
I would have to say, the palace of Pluto, where I held my meeting with Lady Pluto, was large considering the size of the planet itself... It was as large, if not larger, than the Crystal Palace of Earth... And twice as easy to get lost in...  
"I can't believe it..." I muttered to myself as I continued to walk aimlessly through the hallways of the marble palace draped with deep crimson and black tapestries. "I get lost in the palace on the smallest planet of the solar system! How the hell am I going to cope with Jupiter?!"  
A servant girl rushed past me, holding some papers in her hand and I called out to stop her. "Excuse me, but where's the dock area?" I asked. The girl turned and smiled a pleasant smile. She looked young, no older than 14 with long golden tresses and sparkling sky blue eyes.   
"It's two halls back on the right side," she replied with a sprightly tone. "Then continue down that hall and take the fourth left. It's down that hall, you should be able to see the entryway to the hanger..."  
I nodded my thanks and sprinted down the hall, following her directions precisely while the girl went back on her own way to deliver the papers. I took a sharp right at the turn and continued running at top speed, searching for a way out of this maze of a castle...   
"Two halls back on the right... Fourth left..." I muttered her directions carefully, making certain I got them right. My run came to a halt as I entered the designated hallway and slowly began my walk through it. My eyes darted from one door to another, and finally fell upon a metallic door. I paused and looked up at it curiously.  
'HANGER'  
it read... "Well..." I muttered, smiling slightly. "Looks like my adventure has officially begun..." I placed my hand on the handle and twisted it lightly, opening the door quickly and entering, shutting the door behind me.  
Darkness...  
BAM!  
"OW!"  
I opened the metallic door again and walked back out, rubbing my head. I turned sharply back to the room and frowned. "That was cruel... mean and cruel..." I muttered, narrowing my eyes. I reached into the doorway and pulled out a single object... a 'hanger'....  
"Eh... really bad joke..." I muttered, returning my gaze to the hall closet. "Hanger... eh heh... Not funny..." I returned the hanger back to it's origin and closed the door, mumbling under my breath. "Well... now would be a proper time to write 'sucker' on my forehead..."  
I spun around to face the other side of the hallway and looked up at the two large metallic doors on that side, reading the inscription on the top.   
'DOCKING AREA'  
"Damn it..."   
I gave a long exasperated sigh, embarrassed slightly by my own folly. "I am such an idiot..." I muttered walking sluggishly across the hallway to the other set of doors. I placed my hand wearily on the scanner and the ray of light inspected my fingerprints for identification.   
~Identification Name Please...~ the electronic male voice said, echoing throughout the hallway.   
"Raina Saverse Invan..." I said, building up my own pride to clear the voice test.   
~Searching...~  
"..."  
~Searching...~  
"...taking a while..."  
~Searching...~  
"Damn..."  
~Search Complete... Welcome To Pluto's Docking Area Raina Saverse Invan...~  
The two metal doors slid open and I was greeted by a huge room filled with an assortment of different space travel ships. Curiously I walked out onto the balcony of the railway to look out at each ship carefully. Some were rouge ships... travelers of the universe that sought out supplies and sold them to the inhabitants of the Milky Way Galaxy... There were two that were members of the other planets. As far as I could tell, one from the planet of Mercury and the other from the neighbor of Pluto, Neptune.   
Probably vacationers...   
It ticked me off inside that people could be going on vacations while Earth, one of, if not, THE main society in the galaxy, was being annihilated. If Earth went, the other planets of the galaxy would fall as well... But that's humanity for you... Only concentrate on what's important to you... Like getting a perfect, yet safe sun tan...  
I shrugged it off with a small, exasperated sigh. Sometimes I felt like I was fighting for nothing at all... Humanity was greedy, selfish and foolish... Yet... I'm human... and I'm probably the same way... Greedy.... selfish... and foolish...  
My eyes drifted to one of the largest ships in the dock. It's shape resembled that of an animal's... what animal was beyond me... The entire surface was of a green base with blue streaks running across it's surface, going from it's rear to it's head. It was truly magnificent... And lucky me... It was mine...  
I couldn't help but smile. I was proud of the ship, Earth's Wings... that's what it was called... My father worked for the space corporation and it had belonged to him before his sudden disappearance. I remember him telling me that it was to be used for the original Sailor Senshi if there was disturbance among the solar system, and since the originals were gone, it was to be used for the Senshi of the Next Generation.   
I gave a proud smile and walked a few feet over to the metal ladder that led down to the main floor. I swung myself around and began my slow descent. Once I was only about five feet from the ground, I boosted myself off of the ladder and landed neatly on the ground.   
"Raina Invan, is it?"  
My eyes turned to a figure who stood next to the ladder, smirking and leaning against a wall, arms crossed across his chest. His black hair fell slightly into his face and his dark blue eyes watched me carefully. His well built body shifted as he un-crossed his arms and stood upright, his black and white uniform falling back into it's perfect fit place.   
I smiled myself. "If it isn't Kyle Greywind..." I replied, watching him as he walked over to me. "The planetary knight... how's it going?"  
"Miserable... as usual..." he muttered, giving a playful frown. "I've been stuck here for the past month doing nothing but charity work... Do you know how boring that is?"  
I eyed him carefully, frowning deeply myself. "Then I take it you haven't heard about Earth's current situation..." I said, trying to suppress my rising anger towards the guy. Without another word I turned and began walking over to the Earth's Wings. Kyle followed.  
"Actually I've heard all about it..." he replied gravely. I gave him a sidelong glare.  
"You're doing a whole lot to help..." I said sarcastically, trying my best not to get angry at the poor guy, but getting even angrier.  
"The Solar System's council doesn't want me to interfere..."  
I stopped suddenly, turning to glare at him. "What to you mean by they don't want you to interfere?!" I asked, my rage growing. Kyle stopped and looked down at me, taking my shoulders lightly and looking straight into my own blue eyes.   
"Calm down Raina..." he said sternly. His hands lifted from my shoulders as I did as I was told, my anger slowly fading. "They claimed what was happening there was something that the earth needed to deal with... If you ask me they just didn't want to get on the earth's enemies' bad side..."  
I gave an aggravated sigh before turning back to my walking, Kyle tagging along behind. "You're probably right... Just to save their own asses..." I muttered. "I'm wondering if the council will approve of my going to collect the Senshi of the Next Generation..."  
Kyle gave a nod of agreement. "Well you've got the Lady Pluto backing you up... I'm sure she'll be able to convince the council to let you get the Senshi... I'm going to try and talk with her later to see if she can convince 'em to let me help out as well..."  
"She'll probably agree to that..." I couldn't help but smile. I had known the guy since I was nine... Ten long years... We had spent the first few years teasing each other during our training and playing nasty pranks on one another... But I grew to like the guy as a good friend... Kyle was funny, lovable, and trustworthy... And cute...  
A smile spread across Kyle's face as well. Damn he looked good when he smiled... "It certainly will be an adventure to fight with you!" he said. He swung the closet arm around my shoulders and proceeded to give me a nuggie...   
"HEY! Stop that!" I cried, trying to pull myself out of his strong grasp. Did I forget to mention how annoying he could get?  
He smiled innocently and gave a shrug. "What'd I do?"  
"You know I hate that!" I chided him, stopping my pace as I crossed my arms and gave him a cold glare. He gave a laugh.  
"Loosen up! I'm only messin' with ya!" he said in protest. I gave an exasperated sigh and turned to look directly upwards. The two of us now stood directly under the Earth's Wings, close to the entry hatch.  
"Gennom!" I shouted. Kyle blinked at me in confusion, wondering why I had called such a name. His answer to the unspoken question came.  
~Yes Raina?~ a voice, computer generated, but sounding very normal, said from the ship.   
"Open the entry hatch and let down the ramp," I instructed.  
~Yes ma'am...~   
With that, the somewhat large hatch slide open and from within the ship extended a long, steel ramp and reached down and contacted with the ground right before my feet. Kyle blinked, still confused at the situation.  
"Gennom..." he started. "Is the main computer network?"  
I nodded before starting my way up the ramp. "That's what we call him..." I replied, pausing my stride to look down at him. "You coming or what?"  
"I don't think the guys will like it if I do..." he said, smiling nervously and placing his hand behind his head.   
"What guys?"  
"The surveillance team that's supposed to be watching me at all times... The Solar System's council didn't trust me enough to let me be alone, so they got a whole group of people watching me... They thought I would try and sneak off and go to Earth! Imagine that!"  
I laughed at the sarcasm in his voice as he tried to play innocent. "They have good reason for that..." I replied. He blinked and frowned.  
"What's that supposed to mean? Are you saying I don't follow orders?"  
"No of course not!" Sarcasm played over my voice as well. Kyle was about to say something more when Gennom spoke up again.  
~We do not have lift-off clearance yet. The Earth's Wings is not allowed to leave the dock area...~ he said emotionlessly as if he was board.   
"What he said..." I replied, smiling. "We aren't leaving till tomorrow morning... I still have to get a lot of supplies and what not..."  
Kyle paused, considering his options, then smiled and started jogging up the ramp to catch up to me. "I don't think they'll mind if I have a little idle conversation..." he said. "And I don't have my next shift for a few hours..."  
I frowned curiously before continuing my way up into the ship. "Just what do you do here on Pluto? The trouble rate isn't very high..." I mused. Kyle smiled nervously.  
"I'm one of the council men's body guard... For now..."  
"Your lying..."  
My feet stepped onto the ship's metallic floor and began walking down the hallway to the main control room, or the pilot's area. Kyle followed closely behind, and once his feet touched the main floor, the ramp behind him slid quickly back into the ship and the entry hatch slammed shut.  
"I'm not lying..." he said, trying to sound convincing.  
"The council men don't like having body guards... most of them anyway..." I said, a smirk playing on my lips and I stopped at the control room's door, waiting for it to slid open before entering the spacious room.   
"Well this one does!"  
"Your lying, Kyle... I can tell... What are you really doing?"  
"Well..." I could tell he was slightly embarrassed. "I am acting as a body guard..."  
"For whom?" I hopped into the pilot's seat and pressed a few buttons on the keyboard, trying to bring up a program I had been working on recently.   
"One of the council men's daughter..."  
My eyes practically bugged out as I stifled a laugh. "Kyle... I only know one council man who has a daughter..."  
"There is only one who has a daughter..."  
"Daughter... is Cassandra...?"  
"Yup..."  
"Cassandra... is five years old..."  
"I know..."  
I could hold it no longer. I erupted in loud laughter, spinning my seat around to look at Kyle as his face turned a bright red. "You're on BABYSITTING DUTY!" I cried, finding it as funny as hell that Kyle, the planetary knight who fought countless monsters from the outside regions of the galaxy was stuck babysitting a spoiled five year old girl!  
"It's not funny Raina!" he snapped, his face so red that it could compete with an beet's color! "It's a very important assignment!"  
"Right! Right! He heh... Whatever you say..." I muttered, before exploding with another onslaught of laughter.   
"Hey you've done worse!"  
My laughter came to a halt, my eyebrow twitching slightly as I turned away from him, hiding my sudden anger. "No I haven't..." I said, lying through my teeth. "I don't recall having to do anything as stupid as babysitting..."  
~If I may...~ Gennom said, his voice patters playing on a screen on the far right side of the closed window screen. ~I believe Kyle Greywind is referring to the time you got stuck cleaning all the toilets in the royal palace...~  
Kyle began laughing from behind me and my anger was redirected towards Gennom. "Thanks Gennom... you're so kind to remind me of that incident..."   
~You're welcome Raina...~ I could tell there was amusement in the computer's voice... Damn... why did my dad have to program it so much like a human?  
"Hey Gennom!" Kyle said, after recovering from his laugh attack. "Can I get a drink?"  
~Do I have permission to give Kyle Greywind a drink?~ Gennom asked, his question directed towards me. I waved my hand indolently.   
"Sure... Wouldn't hurt..." I muttered, turning back to my the keyboard and started typing, bringing up a program screen on the window. I could guess that Kyle was smiling.  
"Pepsi if you will, Gennom!" he said, his eyes looking at the ceiling which is where the main computer's voice emanated from. I glanced idly behind me to watch as a small square of the metallic floor slid away and from it raised a tiny tray attached to a long pole extend upward with an old fashioned glass bottle of Pepsi on it.   
Kyle smiled presently and took the Pepsi from the tray and watched as it sunk back down into the floor and the square piece slid back into place, looking as if it hadn't moved. "Thanks Gennom!" he said cheerfully as he popped the bottle open and moved over to the co-pilot's seat next to mine and propped his feet on the control panel.  
~Please don't place your feet there...~ Gennom muttered, slight annoyance being picked up. Kyle gave a small, nervous smile and pulled his feet back down to the floor before taking a sip of the Pepsi in his hand.  
"Sorry Gennom..."  
~You are forgiven...~  
Kyle's attention was drawn back to me as I continued to type furiously on the keyboard, opening eight separate screens under the titles 'New Crew Members', each screen having a blank profile. "Whatcha doing?" he asked, curiously.  
"I'm setting up the profiles for the new Senshi... For a while they will be members if this ship..." I muttered, concentrating more on my task than Kyle. I looked up at the screen on the right of the window where Gennom's voice patters were shown. "Gennom. Bring up the files for the listed Senshi of the Next Generation. All except for my own, the moon's heir, and the Lady Pluto..."  
~Please wait...~ Gennom replied, the green line of his voice patters flickering up and down as he spoke. Eight separate screens appeared above the eight that were already there. These eight were completely filled out profiles of the next generation, having names, appearances, slight backgrounds and what not... The seven varied in age, from thirteen to two years younger than me, seventeen... No pictures though...  
"Copy each into the provided crew member profiles and save, entering each into the computer system as our new members..." I instructed. Kyle sipped at his drink again.  
~I can't do that Raina...~  
"Why not?!"  
~Voice tests and finger prints are required...~  
"Can't you do those later?!"  
~Voice tests and finger prints must be done when entering new members... I cannot do it otherwise...~  
I heard Kyle give a stifled laugh and my gaze turned to the man, glaring slightly. "You know..." he said, smirking and taking another swallow or Pepsi. "If you can't get a ship to do what you want, how do you expect to get a bunch of spoiled teenage girls to do what you say?"  
My glare grew so cold that it could've frozen hell over. "You do know I can eject your seat at any time..." I muttered with a threatening tone. I saw Kyle's eyes grow the slightest bit wider as he took another sip, practically chocking on his pop.  
"Is that so...?" he asked, slightly nervous though trying to conceal it with pride.  
"Would you like me to demonstrate?"  
"No that's okay..."  
"You sure? Because I really feel like doing so..."  
"I'll shut up..."  
"Good..."  
  
"Let's see... I'll need four plasma packs... A miniature psycho-sonic generator, Loik brand of course... One jumbo bin of turbo jet fuel and... oh yes! A package of peanuts please!"  
"You don't expect me to carry all this stuff around... do you?"  
"No..."  
"Good..."  
"I'll rent you a push cart so you can push all this stuff around..."  
Kyle gave a long groan while I smirked and patted him on the back. "Come on Kyle! Think of this as extra training! Be a man!" I said, as the bearded man behind the counter went to the store room to fetch the supplies I had asked for. "You're the one who wanted to come along with me to do my shopping..."  
"I came along to spend some quality time with you!" he complained, frowning deeply, looking at me with a steady, infuriated gaze. "I didn't think I'd be your slave for a day! I get enough of that with Cassandra!"   
I smiled again. "You should know me better than that..." I replied, leaning against the counter and crossing my arms. "Don't you remember? I've always bossed you around!"  
"Well we haven't seen each other for a year now... I thought that you had finally..." he trailed off, giving a nervous pause. "...changed..?"  
My smirk disappeared and was replaced by a cold glare. "That's not what you were originally going to say..."  
"What do you mean? Yes it is... was..."  
I could detect the uncertainty in his voice... The same uncertainty I had heard earlier that day when he was telling me about his job... in other words... he was lying... "Kyle...." I said his name nice and slow, emphasizing it deeply. "What were you going to say...?"  
"Um... eh..." I could tell he was at a loss for words as he gave a uneasy smile accompanied by a similar laugh.   
"You thought I had finally..." I started for him, urging him to say what was on his mind, ready to slam something against his head if it was something offensive...  
"Grown up?"  
...Too bad I didn't have anything to slam against his head... hmm... well... Have to go with old fashioned fist...  
"OW!"  
"HOW DARE YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT ABOUT ME!"  
"I'M SORRY!"  
"YOU HAD BETTER BE!"  
It was around then that the store's owner came back, lugging a handful of items. The bulk, yet slightly overweight man set them down, kind of roughly against the counter, before reaching in a case under the counter and bringing out a bag of peanuts. "Here are the items you asked for..." he said moving over to the cash-register and typing it all in, repeating the items to make sure he had gotten the right ones.  
"Four plasma packs, Loik brand mini psycho-sonic generator, jumbo bin of turbo jet fuel, that I'm having brought out to the front... and a bag of peanuts..." he said, turning his green eyes to me to make clearance. I nodded, subsiding my anger to get to business. I pulled out my wallet from my back pocket.  
"How much?"  
"Seven thousand eight hundred fifty three..."  
My eyes practically jumped out of my head as I looked down at the dollar bills I was going through. "Things certainly have gotten pricey these days..." I muttered frowning, looking up, slightly worried. "Are these items really that rare?" The man gave a rough laugh.  
"I'm joking! It costs fifty five dollars and seventy two cents!" he said, getting a good laugh at my expense. I gave a huge sigh of relief before smiling myself as I heard Kyle give a laugh as well, no matter how much pain he was in at the moment.  
I pulled out sixty dollars and handed it to the man, waiting patiently for my change. "Oh, before I forget... I'd like to rent a push cart so my friend here doesn't have to carry these..." I said, sending Kyle a cold glare to remind him that he was still in major trouble. His smile faded and the edginess returned.  
The store owner laughed. "Your traveling and you don't have a push cart for the supplies on your ship?" he asked. I frowned with thought.  
"Well my ship's got a crane... but that's only for close loading... and my ship is docked in the palace docking area and that's a mile away from here..." I answered. He looked at me curiously.  
"A crane, eh? Must be a pretty big ship..."  
"It's the Earth's Wings..." Kyle said, almost as if he were proud that he was friends with the owner of one of the most legendary ships among the galaxy. The man behind the counter's face lit up, and his smile grew wider with fascination.  
"The Earth's Wings?" he asked. "You mean the ship of the Sailor Senshi?"  
"The one and the same..." I answered, glad that I was getting some well deserved, yet amazingly rare, attention.   
"Well then! I'll let you have the push cart for free!" he said, smiling as he gave me my change, then added a ten dollar bill to it. I blinked. "And a small donation! It ain't much, I know."  
I smiled softly, a bit amazed that he would do such a thing. No one's ever done that... most of them ask for more money sometimes, for everyone knows that anyone who owns a ship that large has got to have a good source of income... me being the only exception to that rule... "Thank you..." I said, almost jumping and hugging the man for his generosity.   
"No problem!" he said, running a hand through his slightly spiked brown hair. "I actually helped work on the beginning frame the Earth's Wings before I got transferred here. If you ever need any work to keep the ship maintained just ask and I'll do whatever's necessary!"  
"Now that's generous..." Kyle said, giving a small smirk. The store owner extended his hand to me and smiled.   
"The name's Leonard Krogens!" he said proudly. I took his hand and gave it a shake.  
"Nice to meet you Mr. Krogens-"  
"Please, just Leonard..."  
"My name is Raina Saverse Invan..." I said, smiling as my hand left his and I motioned back to Kyle. "I'm sure you know him... Kyle Greywind."  
"The planetary knight, is it?" he asked, extending his hand again, shaking Kyle's this time.   
"That would be me..."  
"Aren't you babysitting lil' Cassandra now?"  
Kyle's eyes nearly jumped from his head in surprise and I stifled a laugh as he chocked out a 'yes' in reply. Leonard laughed a little himself and stroked his short beard. "She isn't the most patient of people, is the little girl?"  
"Impatient is an understatement..." Kyle said, with a grim tone. "There's only one person who's got more of an attitude that little Cassandra..."  
"Who would that be?" the store owner asked curiously. I knew at once that Kyle had pointed at me, though never even looked... For Leonard's gaze turned slightly to me before he gave another laugh. Kyle is really asking for a pulverizing...  
"Well as much as I'd like to stay and chat... I've got one more stop to make before I get clearance for tomorrow's leave..." I said, trying to suppress my ever rising anger.   
"Another stop?" the black haired boy asked, his blue eyes filled with dismay. "Don't you have enough supplies?"  
"Take it easy... I need to stop off at the weapon's shop to pick up the sword I ordered before I got here..."  
"Sword?" he asked inquisitively.  
"Yes sword... fighting evil isn't easy... especially when the other side doesn't fight fair..." I muttered slowly, trying to explain it so it would get through his thick skull. I turned back to Leonard with a smile and shook his hand again as I watched Kyle struggle to pick up the plasma packs and miniature generator. "It was nice to meet you Leonard. I might take up your offer on the maintenance of my ship..."  
"I'll be here!" he said cheerfully. "Good luck Raina!" And with that, he turned to walk into the back room. I smiled to myself. It was good to have allies... I turned abruptly towards Kyle and frowned as I saw he was having a hard time with the stuff.  
"Here... let me lighten that load a bit..." I said as I plucked out the bag of peanuts from his grasp. "There... that better?"  
"Not really..."  
"Glad to hear it..." I said, turning and beginning to walk towards the door. "The push cart is outside with the jet fuel... so don't worry... It isn't that far..."  
"You wouldn't say that if you were carrying these..."  
As I walked outside I smiled as I saw the bin of turbo jet fuel that was close to the size of a tall man. It sat upon a flat metal slab on wheels with a handle bar on one side. Kyle groaned as he saw this and walked slowly over, having to stand on his toes to get the plasma and generator on top of the tub. "And I have to push this around?" he asked, frowning.  
"Yup..."   
I said not a word as I turned around and began walking through the crowded streets that lined the main part of Pluto's kingdom, the market place. I heard Kyle scramble to get behind the huge cart and begin pushing it forward. I paused, looking back as he made his slow progress before opening the bag of peanuts and eating a few. "How's it going back there?" I asked.  
"Oh just fine..." Sarcasm... pure and simple sarcasm...  
"That's good... glad to hear you don't need my help!" I said, completely serious in my tone as I popped a few more peanuts into my mouth with a laugh. "It's only two stores down..."  
A sigh of relief from behind the pushcart.  
Moments later (longer for Kyle because of his complaining and struggle with the load) I was inside the weapon's shop, talking to the salesman on duty. Kyle was waiting outside, too exhausted to move. I did feel sorry for the poor guy...  
"I'm here to pick up my weapon..." I said simply, walking up to the counter of the small shop.   
"Name?" the man asked.  
"Raina Saverse Invan..."  
The man, looking more like a boy than a man, gave a small nod bent down to go through the storage of waiting swords. Moment's later he came back up and handed me a long slender box. "You've already been paid for..." he said simply. I blinked.  
"I have? By whom?"  
"The Lady Pluto heard you had purchased a sword and paid for it herself."  
"Oh..." I gave a smile to myself. "If you ever have a chance to speak with her, tell her I said thanks..." I set down the box and lifted the top off and my mouth dropped. "Extra thanks... cause I ordered a much simpler version..."  
The boy smiled. "Yeah... she didn't think that the version you ordered was strong enough..." he said. "Enjoy your sword..." He picked up a cleaning rag from a peg on the wall and moved to clean some of the swords on display.   
I couldn't get over the pure shock. I lifted the sheathed sword from the box and felt over the handle, amazed at it's beauty. The handle was a brilliantly designed dragon, it's green body twisting and turning to fit around a person's hand, the head slightly covered by the sword's holder, but would look as if it was eating the actual steel.  
The dragon's eyes were made of sapphires and cuts of emerald sprawled over the dragon's body creating a scale-like effect. At the end of the sword, part of the dragon's tail was wrapped around a golden symbol... the symbol of earth.  
The holder was just as elegant, the exterior designed with black velvet and blue edgings, green reaching across it creating a similar dragon. This tail too was wrapped around the symbol of Earth. A blue ribbon hung off the top to attach it to a belt.  
I smiled and took a tight hold of the handle and pulled it out some to look at the blade.   
"The blade's made of glass!" I said as I looked right through the crystalline blade. Sure it was pretty, but wouldn't it break? The boy looked up from is work at my outburst and shook his head slightly.  
"No... not glass... diamond..."   
Again, my eyes practically jumped from my skull. "Diamond?!"  
"That sword is made so sharply that it can cut through anything and is nearly indestructible..." the boy explained. "It even cut through the first two holders. We had to make a holder that was encrusted with diamonds on the inside as well just to keep the sword in. The diamond structure also is able to take on powers of it's own."  
"Eh...?" I blinked. "You lost me... What do you mean it can take on powers?"  
"You can feed it powers and the sword will take them, making it more powerful..."   
"Wow..." I said, turning back to the diamond blade before sliding it back in. "That's pretty cool... I guess Lady Pluto knows what I like..." A smile spread across my face. "And now I got a cooler sword that Kyle..."  
The boy gave a quizzical look, and I failed to feed his curious hunger. I slid the sword back in and took the ribbon in my hand and was about to tie it to my green belt when the boy stopped me.   
"Wait! I forgot! Lady Pluto also ordered you a belt!" he said, dropping the rag on a display case and jogging over to another and opening it. I blinked, again, slightly confused.  
"She went all out... remind me to write her a very long thank you letter..." I mused.  
The boy came back from the case and held out the belt to me with both hands, cradling it as if his life depended on it's safety. I set the sword down on the counter and took it from his hands, cradling it the same way as I looked it over. A black base color, again with a dragon, this one of gold color, and in the center, a golden symbol of Earth again.  
I gave a small laugh. "She really went all out with the dragons... Either she's commending my strength, or making fun of my attitude..." I muttered with a smirk as I unhooked the belt and pulled it around my waist, snapping the clasp together. It was a bit large, but that's the way I liked it, hanging off my hips slightly. I took the sword again and took the ribbon and tied it to the side of the new belt.   
I turned back to the boy, who smiled. "It looks very becoming... Are you from Earth?"  
"That I am... Thank you for being so patient... with both me and Lady Pluto..." I said, giving a small smirk. He shook his head.  
"No need to thank me... It's the owner who made it... he says it's one of his best works..." he boy said. I smiled again.  
"Well tell the owner that I love it!" I said happily. "I'll leave you to your work..." I gave a nod to the boy and turned to walk out of the sword. My feelings seemed to have skyrocketed, feeling the click of the sword as it swayed at my side.  
As I walked out of the shop, Kyle looked up from his sitting place on the push cart. He blinked in surprise. "Pretty fancy sword and belt," he said. I could tell there was slight jealousy.  
"Yes..." I said, confirming his thoughts. "I do have a better sword than you..."  
  
"How's it coming Gennom?"  
~All systems are a go...~  
"No problems?"  
~None...~  
"You sure?"  
~Yes...~  
"Positive?"  
~Raina.. I'm the ship's main computer... I would know if something was wrong...~  
I sat back in my seat and gave a small smirk. "Wow... I've never had a lift off go this smoothly..." I said. "Maybe this is my lucky day..."  
~Please stay at attention Raina... so maybe your luck will stay this time...~ the computer replied, it's voice pattern's flickering up and down on the screen.  
"Alright then..." I said, giving a smirk as I cracked my knuckles, gave my arms a good stretch and rolled my neck.  
CRACK!  
"Owe..." I said, rubbing the back of my neck as a pain shot through it. "Why does that always happen when I roll my neck?"  
~Perhaps you shouldn't jerk it backwards so fast...~  
"Like you would know the problems of the human neck, Gennom... you're not even human..." I said, giving a small frown as I leaned over and pressed a few buttons on the keyboard before my fingers.  
~Perhaps not... But I have been programmed with all of your physical records as the records of many other humans... Not to mention the data on how to fix problems with the body's functions... Therefore-~  
"Gennom..." I muttered warningly to shut the computer up. "Save it for another day..."  
~Whatever you wish Raina...~ there was annoyance in the computer's voice.   
It was now the next day. Kyle and I had made our goodbye's... well sort of... he thought goodbye was too permanent so I settled with a 'see you soon'. Now I was on my way, everything loaded and ready, and my permission to leave the dock had been granted. The Earth's Wings and I were going to start on our way...  
"Start the engines... Warm up the thrusters... set course to planet Neptune..." I instructed.  
~Engines started... Thrusters are de-cooling... course set...~ Gennom replied calmly as I heard the engines roar to life, sounding more like a wild animal than a machine. ~Aren't you forgetting something Raina?~  
"What?"  
~The screen...~  
I gave a nervous laugh. "That would help..." I said, reaching over and pressing a small green button. The huge window before me opened it's hatch and showed me the area of the hanger in front of the ship. To the sides, monitors showed different parts of the ship, more or less showing the blocks that were attacked to my ship to prevent leaving before approval. For now, all blockings were still in place.   
"Set up link with control tower..." I told Gennom. A small window flickered onto the screen and a member of Pluto's control tower came onto the window. "The Earth's Wings is requesting permission to leave the dock area..."  
"Permission granted... exit through gate 5a..." the girl, whom I recognized as the girl I had run into in the hallway... the servant girl... she worked at the tower?  
"There's different gates?" I asked quizzically. The girl laughed.  
"The one right in front of you..."  
"That makes sense..." I mused. The connection was cut off and I waited patiently as each of the blockings were released and my ship further prepared for takeoff. Announcements went off in the dock to announce my departure.  
I closed my eyes and said a short prayer, asking God to help me through this...   
~Thrusters have completed warm-up stage,~ Gennom announced as the gate in front of my ship began to open.   
"Manual controls if you will Gennom..." I said, pressing a few more buttons. At my command, two grooved handles were brought out to my fingertips. I took a tight hold of them and smiled.  
~Please don't run us into anything like you did when we were landing...~ he said with a pleading tone.  
"Funny Gennom..." I muttered angrily through my teeth.  
~I'm not kidding...~  
And that is how my story began...  
  
Authors Note:  
I know... kinda... well... odd and doesn't really go anywhere... The second part is better! Trust me!!! I just kinda... gotta... finish it... ~.~* :::laughs nervously::: hope you enjoyed! and be ready for the second part, k?  
~Lordess 


	2. Part 2 1: Gathering

Authors Note: Okay, this is only the prelude for the second part... Part Two goes through all the planets and it'd be really long if I put them all in one part... and it would take forever for me to write it too... I've only just finished Neptune... anyway, enjoy! And please review too!!!  
~Lordess  
  
A ringing echoed throughout the hallways of the Earth's Wings. I paid no attention to the incessantly repeating noise and closed my blue eyes as the warm water beat against my pale skin. My purple hair laid flat against me, shinning silver from the wetness. I wasn't going to let a simple telephone call disrupt my perfectly good shower...  
Well I wouldn't of... but Gennom had to stick his nose into my business...  
~Raina... the phone's ringing... and I doubt it's for me...~ the computer voice said as a screen flickered into the wall of the shower, the black screen with the green voice pattern line. I frowned, turning away from it.  
"Let it ring... I'm busy..." I muttered with annoyance as I grabbed a bottle of shampoo and squirted the gooey green liquid into my hand before beginning to run it through my hair.  
~Raina... it's a message from Pluto... it may be Setsuna, the Lady Pluto...~ Gennom urged, the line of his voice flickering up and down.   
"Yeah... and it might be Kyle just calling to bother me..." I took a deep breath, still lathering my hair thoroughly. "Find out who it is and give me a signal if it's Lady Pluto..."  
~Understood...~ And with that the black voice screen disappeared and I continued running the shampoo into my hair, more relaxed now knowing Gennom would handle it. The ringing stopped and with another deep breath, I was left a moment of pure peace.  
Until Gennom turned off the hot water...  
"AAAAYIIII!!! THAT'S COLD!"   
I leaped from the shower, practically breaking the door off as I swung around and grabbed a towel being handed to me by a mechanical hand. I wrapped the towel tightly around my bare body and shivered before looking at the mechanical hand that was attached to once of Gennom's voice screens. I grumbled something before speaking to him.  
"I'll take it that the phone call is from Lady Pluto..."  
~And I'll take it that my signal worked well enough...~  
  
*Sailor Senshi Next Generation Part 2: Gathering*  
  
I gave an exasperated sigh as I tied the towel more securely around me before beginning to walk across freezing tile floors towards the pilots room. "Turn off the water Gennom..." I instructed, then paused, turning back to the monitor and mechanical hand. "And don't you ever do that again... Got it?"  
The water turned off in the shower and the mechanical hand closed the door to it before turning back around. ~I don't see why not...~ he replied as the monitor scooted across a line that hung from the ceiling and it's mechanical arm reached into it's miniature compartment. ~Whatever works should be sufficient...~ The arm reached back out and produced a blue ribbon and handed it to me.   
I frowned and took the ribbon, turning around and beginning to walk once more, the monitor following along it's provided trail. I pulled my hair up tightly, taking all the strands and wrapping them into a bun, only a few short strands falling back into my face. "If you do that more than once, I'll have a heart attack..." I pointed out. "And besides... sudden changes of temperature aren't good for the body..."  
~I see...~ Gennom muttered. I could tell he wasn't exactly understanding, nor buying my story, no matter how true it was... He knew I just didn't like getting showers interrupted.  
"Tell Setsuna that I'll be right there..." I muttered, tying the ribbon into a tight bow.   
~Will do Raina...~ he said, and the monitor sped ahead of me down the long hallway towards the pilot's room. I gave a sigh and paused as I looked down one of the next hallways. My remembrance of the pleasurable shower faded and was replaced by slight wonder. This hallway had nine doorways, four on each side and one at the end.   
Each door differed from the other, being painted each a separate color, and each door having different designs to make them each stand out. And attached close to the top of each door was a golden symbol, shinning greatly even under the artificial light. These were the rooms of the Senshi...   
I could almost picture the original nine as the walked in and out of their rooms, pausing to greet each other on their own way. Sailor Jupiter would exit from the first door to the right, the green one while Sailor Saturn would come from the purple door to the left. Next to Saturn's was the aqua green door, where Neptune would exit, and across from their and next to Jupiter's was where the Senshi of Mars would be.  
Further down on the right would be the blue door that led to Sailor Mercury's room, followed by the yellow door where Sailor Venus would dorm at. Across from Mercury's was the dark blue door of Uranus' room, standing next to the deep maroon door where the Lady Pluto did, and would again, live in.  
And the last door, the most elegant of all, painted of white with golden trims on the outskirts of the design, was the room of the previous moon princess, Queen Serenity's room herself... It would've one day be passed down to the daughter of the mighty queen... But now that they were gone...  
I shook the thoughts from my head as I began to picture the downfall of the royal family and walked eagerly away from the hall. I was slightly reminded, as the thoughts of death were pushed away, of the only time I had actually walked down that hallway...  
My father had been piloting the ship and I had snuck aboard, waiting for adventure, and perhaps wanting to put my mother's locket to the test... But only being five years of age, I got terribly lost... Clutching my locket, I had begun to wander the halls aimlessly, keeping silent and trying to fight back the tears. I had never been alone in such a large place before... And Gennom at that time, was not as human adapt, and was more or less busy helping my father.  
Around that time, the ship gave a harsh jolt for the thrusters had a small jump start. I lost balance and dropped the locket. After looking up from my fall I saw the locket roll into another hallway and got up to chase after it, pleading in broken whispers for it to stop.   
The locket finally stopped it's rolling and spun to it's side and landed neatly on the floor. Desperate to make sure it didn't roll away again, I ran over to it, falling to my knees as I swooped it into my hands and held it close, chiding the locket for rolling away and closing my eyes tightly to stop myself from crying.  
A moment later, the door in front of me open and I opened my teary eyes to look up and see an angel. The slender angel looked down at me with a warm smile, her blue eyes as calm as a river, her long golden tresses cascading downwards with her white dress. And next to her stood her loyal knight, who loved and protected this angel...  
Both the angel and the knight knelt down next to me, smiling with smiles as warm as the sun, the knight brushing the loose hair from my face as the angel wiped my salty tears away...  
That was the first time I met the Queen Serenity and King Endymion... As well as the rest of the Senshi... though I met them a bit later in the trip...  
I gave a small smile and entered the pilot room and let myself drop comfortably into the seat. "Put the message through, Gennom..." I instructed, pulling a loose strand of still wet hair back into the bun. "View screen on..."  
~Right away Raina...~ the machine replied, the straight green line flickering as the words were spoken. The window before me flickered into a huge monitor and a window with the image if the Lady Pluto appeared. I forced a pleasant smile, resisting my urge to crack a joke.  
"Good afternoon Lady Pluto..." I said, straightening myself into a proud stature.  
"Good afternoon Raina..." the Lady Pluto replied, smiling as well. "Did I interrupt your bath?"  
"Shower... But Gennom got me out..." I shot a glare towards Gennom's voice pattern screen, but forced another pleasant smile as I returned my gaze to Lady Pluto. "Before I find out what reason you called me for, I would like to thank you for the purchase and extravagant upgrade that you placed on the sword I ordered."  
"You are quite welcome..." she said. "I wanted you to have the best available..."  
"Oh...?" My smile turned into a smirk. "Aren't my raw talents good enough for the mission that has been so kindly assigned to me?"  
Lady Pluto laughed slightly. "I do not doubt your talents, but you might be up against harder enemies than you think..." she informed, her expression turning the slightest bit grave. "This isn't training anymore..."  
"I know that all too well, Setsuna... But honestly... I've been wondering... were the dragons to commend my strength? Or to make fun of my attitude?"  
The Lady Pluto was caught of guard, blinking her maroon eyes open and shut several times curiously before replying. A smile spread across her face. "Well I was commending... making fun of, if you will... of something... but it was not your strength or your attitude..."  
"Really? What was it then?"  
"Your breath..."  
I practically choked on the air as my eyes leaped from my head. "What...?!" I asked, completely surprised that the Lady Pluto would say something like that. She wasn't the type to insult! My surprise was suppressed slightly as I realized where she had got that from. "That isn't from that little argument that I..."  
I trailed off, but Lady Pluto was able to finish...  
"That you and Kyle had when the both of you began your training under the Senshi and I? Oh yes... That was the time when you referred to Kyle as 'Crater-Face' and he referred to you as 'Dragon-Breath'..."  
I smiled nervously. "I can't believe you remembered that..." I said, shifting uncomfortably, a bit ashamed that I had acted so immaturely before the presence of a Lady of the Court... I do it now... but now it's different... I kind of am a lady of the court... sort of... in a way...   
"Oh I remember it quite clearly..." the Lady Pluto said, giving a smile. "You and Kyle were so cute when insulting each other... Still are in fact..."  
I forced a smile and a laugh to go with it.   
"Actually... I ordered the dragon especially because of your ship..."  
"My ship?" I asked, blinking. The Lady Pluto nodded.  
"Yes... your ship oddly reminds me of a Dragon... Though I must say..." she paused, stifling a chuckle. "Dragon-Breath has a much more entertaining reaction for the reason..."  
"Anyway..." I started. Changing subjects is good... "What did you call for?"  
"I was curious to see if you had looked up the information on the princess' you are to be gathering..."  
"Of course I have! Gennom has them saved on his hard drive..."  
"Good... you can delete them then..."  
I blinked in surprise. "Delete them?" I asked, utterly confused. "Why?"  
"Because none of the information listed on those sheets are accurate..." the Lady Pluto said. "Look up my file..."  
"Gennom..." I said, turning to the screen.  
~Hold please...~ the computer said and within a moment later, a screen appeared next to the one I was talking to Lady Pluto through. ~Information Accessed...~ Gennom confirmed.  
"Now look at my age..." the Lady of Pluto said calmly. I frowned curiously and read it over quickly.  
"Twenty-five...?" I asked, tilting my head. "With all due respect... you're a lot older than twenty-five... I mean... you've been living since the downfall of the silver millennium... Though you look twenty-five... you are no where near there..."  
Setsuna laughed slightly. "The information on those cards are completely false... they are either not up to date, or are lied about..." she informed, still smiling. "So you can forget about those files..."  
"Does this mean I have to start from scratch?" I asked grumpily, frowning deeply.  
"Yes... I believe it does..."  
"How nice..."  
I gave a deep sigh. "Well I really must be getting back to my shower..." I muttered. "I don't want to walk around like this for the rest of the day..."  
"And I will let you get back to that shower... Talk to you soon Senshi of Earth..."  
"Same to you Pluto..."  
And with that, Lady Pluto's connection was cut off and the screen closed. I took a deep sigh and heaved myself up from the chair, the water that had collected in my hair now ran down my back, sending shivers of the appeasing rest of the shower I would be getting back to...  
"Nice legs..."  
I froze in my spot.  
~Oh dear... it appears that Mr. Greywinds has hacked into my system and created an uplink...~ Gennom said, a bit surprised. My entire body tensed up as I turned back around, still dressed in a towel... There on the screen was the same black haired, blue eyed boy I had no more than two hours ago said goodbye to...  
"Kyle..." I said warningly. "Why did you hack into my system?"  
A smirk played on the boy's lips. "Well I wanted to talk to you to see how the lift off went!" he said, leaning back in the seat he sat in. "The line was busy so I had to hack in... I must say Raina... I liked the sneak preview..."  
My hands balled up into tight fists, my teeth clenched together. But I let the anger slide away. From my years of knowing the guy from training, I had learned one thing above all else... Don't get mad... Get even...  
"Gennom... send Kyle that 'special package' at my command, then destroy the uplink..." I said, looking from the new screen with Kyle's face to the voice pattern screen.  
"Special package? Wait... I remember you telling me about that... isn't that a..." Kyle's voice trailed off as his eyes grew to their widest stage. "A VIRUS!"  
A smirk came across my own face. "This will teach you to hack into MY domain!" I said, my voice dropping to an eerily evil tone. "Gennom! Start transmission!"  
"Raina! Wait no! Don't!"  
~Transmission started...~  
"Now destroy uplink..." I commanded. I was able to see Kyle's completely horrified face as the virus began to take effect, before the window closed and the uplink was destroyed.  
~Uplink disconnected... Dragon Virus successfully transferred... Kyle's computer has been, as you would say... Wiped out...~  
"That will teach Kyle not to look places where his eyes don't belong... Now... about that shower..."  
  
Authors Note: That concludes the prelude do Part 2! Neptune should also be up so quick! Onto the next part! And don't forget to review, k?  
~Lordess 


	3. Part 2 2: Neptune

Author's Note: This next part is Neptune! I hope you've enjoyed the story thus far and I'll try to get Uranus done ASAP! I wish my stories weren't so long... Anyway... Read and review please! :)  
~Lordess  
  
*NEPTUNE*  
  
Neptune, the planet of the sea. It's life and inhabitances all depend on the waters of the planet to survive. And the worry of this resources' depletion is slim to nil... Because that is what the planet's surface is completely made of...  
The metallic cities are built above the endless ocean. The main cities reaching high above the rest while the highways stretch across the water's surface, transporting passengers to their destination. There are even places that exist underneath the sparkling surface. These places include the most top secret, and or rarely visited locations... The royal palace being one of those sites...  
I gave a deep sigh as the glass elevator zoomed down towards the residence below in a similar glass tube. Outside the tube the ocean life speed past; dolphins, whales, fish, and even a shark or two... Then there were things I didn't recognize... nor really wanted to... Big things with sharp teeth really don't interest me much...  
As the elevator came to a halt at the last stop, I couldn't help but smile as the doors opened. Before me was a long hallway with a moving sidewalk heading towards where the palace was located. I calmly took a step onto the sidewalk and turned my head upwards as I was greeted by a glass roof that showed all the life living in the sea.   
I could tell the inhabitance really had a great respect for creatures of the water.   
I watched contently as an enthusiastic dolphin swam across the top of the hallway before swinging around and swimming up against the glass walls, watching me carefully. I smiled, watching it as it seemed to smile back at me before dashing forward and back around again, showing me how well it could swim.  
I gave a small laugh as another dolphin came up and almost seemed to scold the other dolphin before the two swam back to their pod. My attention returned to the hallway as a bleeping noise escaped from my watch. Curiously, I looked down at my wrist at the small black screen that read the time of day.  
Upon pressing a small green button on the right side, the screen flickered to Gennom's voice pattern.  
~Raina... Lady Pluto has just contacted me...~ his voice said, emanating from speaker on the back of the watch.  
"And...?"  
~Permission for the retrieval of the Senshi has been granted...~  
I have a small laugh. "Well it was already a bit too late... But it's good that I'm not doing anything illegal..." I muttered, more to myself.  
~The Lady Pluto also informed me that the Royal members of each planet shall be notified within the hour...~ the computer continued. ~And she also said to wish you luck...~  
"That all?"  
~Well she did mutter something about you needing that good luck... But I was not able to fully understand why...~  
I gave a small moment of thought. Now what was she implying with the good luck? Most likely the enemy... "Well continue the careful watch Gennom... I got to get going..." I stepped off the moving walkway as it came to a stop. "I'll report back to the ship once I finish explaining out situation to the King and Queen of Neptune..."  
~I will be awaiting your return...~  
I pressed the green button once more and the screen faded back into the time. Nine twenty-seven a.m.... I was making relatively good time... At this rate, I'd be able to take-off this evening and sleep easy on the way to the planet Uranus...  
I turned back to the hallway and smiled, seeing a pair of silvery metallic doors that led to the entry way of the palace. Before walking towards them, I glanced upwards, through the glass tubing to see a palace of silver and gold, shimmering under the sunlight that made it's way down through the layers of water.   
Schools of shinning fish swam around it's spires while dolphins played chase around the tall towers. It was an undersea paradise for humans... Like the sun in many ways... A glowing object amidst the endless blue...  
Drawing my thoughts back to the present, I moved quickly over to the sliding doors and glanced to the side where a small button and monitor lay embedded in the wall. With a small smile, I pressed the button and the monitor flipped on.  
"Palace of Neptune, Glace Stratton on duty... How may I help you today?"  
I turned to the man with a smile. He appeared to be a strong man, in his early twenties, but appearing in his late teens. He had short blonde hair which spiked out above his head and stern, and mysterious blue eyes.  
"I'm here to have counsel with the King and Queen of Neptune if you please..." I replied.  
The boy looked down, shuffling through some papers. "Name...?"  
"Raina Saverse Invan..."  
Glace continued searching through the papers and finally found what he was looking for. "Looks like the Lady Pluto set this counsel on your behalf..." he mused aloud.  
"Correct..."  
"Alright then... I see no problem..."  
A small silence as a few buttons were pushed, and then his gaze returned to me. "The door shall open within a few moments," Glace Stratton informed, smiling slightly. "Continue down the corridor and you shall reach the center of the palace where the Royal Queen Sazuka is waiting..."  
"Thank you Glace Stratton..."  
And with that, the screen flickered off and the metallic doors slid open, leaving a clear path for me to follow.   
I was filled with a slight sense of fear as I began to walk forward through the glass corridor, looking up every now and then to the palace that now seemed to tower above me. The doors behind me had long since closed after my entry, and I paused for a moment, studding the castle's structure. Indeed... Those of Neptune loved the ocean...  
Without any more hesitation I started walking forward again, my high heeled boots clicking against the almost invisible floor beneath my feet. My eyes drifted across the life that swam through the sea, racing this way and that. The pod of dolphins from before seemed miles away now...  
I paused as I reached another door. I frowned with curiosity.  
"What am I supposed to do now? Ring the doorbell?" I mused out loud.  
"Actually... Asking for admittance would be fine..."  
I jumped at the sound of this new voice and swerved around. The girl, looking around my age, smiled pleasantly, given that I probably looked completely shocked at her presence. Her hair appeared like short flames, tickling her chin while her eyes seemed the very color of gold.  
I blinked, taking a step back in consideration of the fact that she was right in front of me...  
She laughed an almost silvery laugh which sent shivers through my back. A mere 'eh' was all I was able to studded out for the time being. The girl blinked with those golden eyes, her bright smile fading slightly into curiosity.  
"Something wrong...?" she asked, though she left no time for answer. "Oh! I'm sorry! Am I standing too close?" She took a few steps back, allowing me to regain my straight posture, though I was still gawking a bit. "Sorry... I have a tendency to do that sometimes..."  
"...eh..."  
"Is something else wrong...?"  
"...If I sound rude by asking this, I'm sorry... But where the hell did you come from!?"  
The girl's smile returned. "WELL! You see there were these two people, my creators of course, and they got together one night and-"  
"NO!"   
The girl blinked, shocked at my outburst. I gave a nervous laugh.  
"I meant... How did you get into the hallway...?"  
The red haired girl set a curious look upon her face and tilted her pale skinned head to one side. "The same way you did..." she replied, blinking. "I walked in..."  
"...oh..." I muttered. My muscles relaxed a bit from my previous outburst, though my mind was still slightly troubled. I raised a single eyebrow at her curiously. "But I didn't hear the other door open..."  
Again, the girl smiled a carefree smile.  
"Who needs doors?"  
Something about that single, three word question made my mouth drop to the floor and my eyes bug out. The girl saw this, but only laughed, giving me a clear sign that she was not going to explain herself any more than that...   
"My name's Alita-Two" she said, giving a small bow to my presence. For a moment I found the action strange, but I said nothing about it.  
"Alitato... That's a nice name..." I replied, genuinely.  
"Not Alitato... Alita-two!"  
I blinked at her with pure confusion, but she just smiled and shook her head. "You'll understand soon enough..." was all she said.   
"I'm Raina..." I managed to reply, though unsure of my own words. "Representative of Earth... I've come with the guidance of the Lady Pluto to seek council with the queen and king of your planet, Neptune..."  
Alitato, as she was called, nodded in reply. "Yes, our Communications Department received the call no more than a few minutes ago," she explained. "I've been sent here to escort you to the thrown room..."  
"I give you my thanks, Alitato..."  
"Alita-TWO!"  
"...That's what I said..."  
"No... you said Alitato... I'm saying Alita-TWO!"  
"...Fine... AlitaTOO..."  
An aggravated sigh escaped the girl's lips as she rolled those gold eyes of hers. "Nevermind..." she muttered. "Follow me..." With that the girl walked at a quick pace past me and over to the door. Without the girl needing to stop, the doors slid open allowing her passage.   
Curiously, and with slight confusion about the entire name deal, I followed, matching her pace exactly and staying always a few steps behind. As I passed through the doorway, the metallic doors slid back into place and I was left in awe...  
This new hallway... It wasn't exactly wide... It was a maze... Of pure glass...  
And I thought Pluto was hard...?  
I had heard rumors of the hallway before the palace, though I never really listened to them... They said that it was indeed a maze, and you were trapped inside it... If you didn't have a guide who knew exactly where he (or she in the case) was going, you'd be stuck in there forever... or until the guards came and found you... The security is quite effective here on Neptune...  
Alitato paused, turning around to face me, slightly amused at my surprise.  
"Don't worry... I know how to get through..." she assured with a perky tone. And with that she turned herself back around and continued to walk forward.  
I continued her, eyes wavering away every now and then to look over at the other paths in this glass maze. But I always made sure that wherever Alitato turned, I turned as well...  
And then it happened...  
I was looking over into another hallway, thinking I saw someone, though half thinking it was just my reflection... Out of the corner of my eye I saw Alitato still walking forward... But something seemed not right...  
For a split second... Nothing more, but probably less... I saw a ripple like effect around her... My head jerked forward in hopes to completely understand what I saw, but the ripple was gone and Alitato was still walking calmly forward.  
But still my mind would not let the idea go, and now it was plagued with the fact that her figure was now slightly blurred... Was I alright? Was I having a faint spell? Was it really just my vision? Or perhaps it was-  
BAM!  
At the sudden impact that was more or less felt on my head alone, I stumbled back, loosing my balance and falling to the floor. My hands flew up to my nose as pain began to surge through it. I cursed.  
"What the heck?! What was that?!"   
Curiously, Alitato stopped and looked back. She gave a small sigh and turned fully towards me. "I seem to have forgotten..." she replied, beginning to walk towards me once more.  
My eyes slowly grew wide as I realized that I had run into one of the glass walls... But Alitato hadn't turned any corners or anything... And as she stopped on the other side of the wall, I found out why...  
"You organic types..." she muttered as she leaned forward, the upper part of her body going right through the glass. The ripple like effect occurred around her on the glass, though it was more like ripples of light than that of water. "And here I was thinking we could take the easy way..."  
My eye began to twitch as fear began to steadily rise into my heart. With a sudden surge of the emotion, I scooted myself back a bit. "What the hell are you?!"  
"My science project..."  
My body froze on me at the new voice... It sounded exactly like Alitato's... though she had not moved from her position and her smiling mouth had not opened or closed. Slowly, my gaze turned upwards to be greeted by a face that was an exact replica's of Alitato's... Again, my eye began to twitch.  
The girl smiled, closing her golden eyes. "I'm Alita Dislunion... Princess of the Planet Neptune..." she greeted pleasantly. She pointed towards the one leaning through the glass wall. "That's my hologram double, Alita-Two..."  
"...Alita... Two..." I managed to mutter. Suddenly it all came to me, and everything cleared up. "Oh... Now I get it..." A pause. "What a minute... She's your SCIENCE PROJECT?!" I somehow scrambled to my feet while screaming that question. The princess just smiled, tilting one head to the side causing her red hair to bounce lightly.   
"Well yes... Who else do you think created her...?"  
Well... I officially feel inferior...  
Slightly embarrassed, I took a step back and bowed respectively. "Forgive me, Daughter of Lord and Lady Neptune..." I said, deepening my voice to a serious tone. "I do not mean to offend you..."  
Alita gave a small laugh as I stood upright once more. "Do not worry... I was not offended..." she paused, opening her golden eyes once more. "You are hear to collect the Senshi of the Next Generation, are you not?"  
"That I am..." I replied, giving a small bow of my head. "With the instructions of Lady Pluto, I, Raina Saverse Invan, Commander of the Earth's Wings, have been given the assignment to bring together those worthy of being Sailor Senshi and call them forth to defend the universe once more..."  
Neptune's Princess frowned at me curiously. "Sounds quite important..." she mused. The edges of her mouth curved upwards and for a split second, held a smirk before becoming a complete smile. "Well then! We'll have to leave right away!"   
And with that, the princess turned to Alita-Two. "Activate Plan GT84..." she said, turning serious almost immediately. "I'm counting on you, so make this work..."  
Alita-Two nodded solemnly before vanishing into thin air. The remaining girl turned towards me again.  
"Where's your ship docked?"   
"But... I have to go speak with the Queen... don't I?"  
"Oh don't worry! Mother has already made her decision on the subject! That's why I'm here!" the princess assured. "This way it's faster and easier..." The smile widened. "So come on! We must find it quickly before..." A slightly nervous pause causing my suspicion on the whole thing start to rise.   
"Before what...?"  
"Oh never mind... We've just got to find it!"  
"...What's it...?"  
Now just plain confusion filled my mind. What the heck was she talking about? Princess Alita paused, looking at me skeptically. "You know..." she started, but I only shook my head. "The crystal of Neptune...?"  
"..."  
"...The Lady Pluto did not discuss it with you...?"  
"...no..."  
Alita gave an exasperated sigh and shook her head in a 'tsk-tsk' manner. "Let's just get to your craft... I'll explain on the way..."  
  
I tapped my fingers impatiently on the control panel of Earth's Wings, aggravation being heard in each thump against the steel. The Princess of Neptune sat quietly in the co-pilot's seat and Gennom remained nervously silent himself...  
The ringing of the phone transmission finally came to a stop as someone finally picked up the other line.  
"Setsuna..." I said, gritting my teeth. The Pluto Queen's calm look turned to surprise as she saw me. She gave a small, curious frown.  
"Raina? What's wrong?" she asked.  
"...What's this I here about... a crystal?"  
For a moment, the Lady Pluto was silent. But as her mind finally figured out what I was saying, that curious frown turned into a nervous smile. "Oh my... I forgot to mention that... didn't I?" she asked, a small nervous laugh escaping her lips.  
"...no kidding..."  
"I'm dreadfully sorry... It completely slipped my mind..."  
"...I'll have to think about excepting that apology... But in the mean time... What are these crystals?" I asked, my muscles relaxing slightly. Lady Pluto, after seeing me relax, eased a little herself and smiled genuinely.  
"Each of the Senshi must recover their transformation crystals that are located somewhere on the planet... It not only allow them to become the senshi of the next generation, but it will also allow them passage to their rooms on the Earth's Wings..."  
I gave a small grunt. "Minor fact... Isn't it...?"  
The Lady Pluto gave another nervous smile. "I again apologize..." she replied. "I've been quite busy getting the Solar System's Council to agree to you going out and gathering the Senshi... If I have forgotten anything more, please ask me at once..."  
For a moment I was silent, not entirely sure what to say. "What's the situation on the Planetary Knight?"  
Setsuna tilted her head to one side and smiled pleasantly. "I'm surprised he hasn't called you yet..." she said.  
"Oh he has... I just sent him a virus the last time so I doubt he'll try to contact me again any time soon..."  
"...I see..." The Lady Pluto gave a cough, clearing her throat. "Well the Council is going through a series of meetings right now on some other issues... Within a week they'll discuss whether Kyle will be able to join you during your fight on Earth..." The Lady Pluto paused. "Have you met the Princess of Neptune yet?"  
"Yeah she's right here..." I replied, giving a gesture to the girl sitting in the co-pilot's seat. Lady Pluto glanced over and blinked silently a few times. I tilted my head. Why was she acting so odd?  
My answer came...  
"Hello Alita-Three... How have you been lately?"   
The girl in the seat smiled back up at Pluto. "Oh quite well Lady Pluto, and yourself?"  
My eyes practically jumped from my skull and I was silent for a moment as the two continued their conversation. "Alita-THREE?!" I asked suddenly, interrupting their chatter. My gaze turned straight to the girl I had originally thought to be the Neptunian Princess. She watched me with a curious look as I took my pointer finger and proceeded to poke her in the arm...  
My finger went right through as if she wasn't even there...  
I gave a yelp and jumped back, then regained my posture. "What the hell is going on?!" I screamed, looking from the hologram to the Lady Pluto and back.   
I heard Setsuna give a small chuckle. "So what plan did the Alita's use this time?" she asked politely to Alita-Three. The hologram smiled pleasantly.  
"Plan GT84!" she said proudly.  
"What the heck does that mean!?" I asked, having a fit of rage.   
Again, both Alita-Three and the Lady Pluto gave small chuckles. "Gullible Test number 84..." they replied in unison.   
My jaw proceeded to drop to the floor at the simple reply. "G-gullible... T-test..." I stuttered out.   
"You have just witnessed the first gullible trap of the prankster princess'..." Lady Pluto explained. "I would have warned you about it earlier... But I figured you'd either back down or wouldn't believe me anyway..." A pause to smile. "It's best that you found out on your own..."  
For a moment, my anger and surprise rested and curiosity aroused. "Wait... what do you mean by prankster princess'...?"  
"That's what they've been nicknamed..." the hologram said, watching me curiously. "The Seven Prankster Princess' of the Milky Way Galaxy..."  
A tingle of dread began to fill my body and I sank into the pilot's seat with wobbly legs. "Oh no..."   
"Raina, there is no need to see the Queen and King of Neptune..." the Lady Pluto said, bringing me out of my worry phase. "They aren't even at the palace, or on the planet Neptune for that matter... They are making a visit to the Planetary Council and I have already talked to them personally. All you need to do is get the Neptune Crystal and find the real Princess and you may be on your way..."  
"Where is the real princess...?" I asked, tilting my head towards Alita-Three.  
"Packing..." was the reply.  
I gave a long sigh. "Alrighty then... Now that I feel like an idiot for being pulled into that prank... And freaked out about meeting the other six princess'..." I muttered, turning back to Lady Pluto. "Talk to you later Setsuna..."  
"Good luck Raina..."  
And then the transmission was ended.  
  
~Generators functional...~  
"I can't believe I have to use this thing..."  
"You know how to pilot it, don't you?"  
~Motor is running normally...~  
"There's a simulation built in to it's controls and I used to think of it as a game... I've never piloted it in real life..."  
"Why not?"  
~...Problem located in the control panel...~  
"Never needed to use it..."  
~Raina...~  
"You haven't visited many sea planets?"  
~...Raina...~  
"Nope... This is only the second time I've been to Neptune so..."  
~Raina!~  
I suddenly realized that Gennom had been talking to me and quickly turned from Alita-Three to Gennom's voice pattern screen. "What?!" I asked, slightly ticked. A sigh from the main computer.  
~There is a problem with the control panel... Please correct it...~ he said calmly, though I could tell he was slightly ticked with me. I gave an exasperated sigh from my position of laying on my stomach and gave the panel in front of me a hard smack on the side.   
"How is it now...?" I asked.  
~...Control Panel operating normally...~  
I smiled, proud of my own reckless achievement.  
The Neptunian Crystal was, unfortunately for me, located in a shelter at the bottom of the sea. The only way one could get it was by a mini submarine and even then you had to go through password verifications and what not... So... Lucky me now lay stomach down in a ten foot long mini sub that rest in the Earth Wing's lower compartments...  
It wasn't necessarily uncomfortable... But my slight claustrophobic habits had decided to come back... Never before had I used the 'Mini Wings', as it had been nick named. The only thing I used it for was the simulation to entertain me like a video game when I was bored.  
"This isn't going to be easy..." I murmured, shifting myself into a more comfortable position on the black padding underneath and around my body. Alita-Three, who squatted near the open entry hatch of the Mini Wings, gave me and reassuring nod.  
"Don't worry... I'll be leading you every step of the way..." she replied, telling me simply not to worry. I nodded in reply.   
~All systems of the Mini Wings are fully operational...~ Gennom confirmed as the hologram took a step back from the entry hatch and smiled down at me. ~Preparing for launch... Are you ready Raina?~  
I gave a nod, both to reply to Gennom, and assure Alita-Three. "Close entry to Mini Wings..." I commanded as I stretched forward my arms and took a firm grip on the controls.  
~Closing entry hatch...~  
The steel door slid shut and I immediately felt my claustrophobia completely return. But I pushed my fears aside as the front window lit up with grids, charts and measurements. Outside the window I could see the interior of the Earth's Wings and the hologram standing on the upper deck, looking down at me with a smile.  
"Alright then..." I muttered to myself. I took one of my hands a way to adjust the headset attached to my ear and then flip some of the other switches, powering up the engine. "Open dock area and connect with crane..."  
At my command I could hear the machine's hum as the dock opened and another set of hums as the crane began operating, reaching over from it's resting area towards the Mini Wings. There was a small jolt as the crane clamped on strongly.  
I flipped a few more switches, these connecting cables between the Mini Wings and the crane. "Raise Mini Wings..."  
~Raising Mini Wings...~ Gennom's voice said.  
The crane began to rise again, this time with me and the miniature submarine in it's grasp. Ever so slowly it moved the Mini Wings and I towards the open dock area. Once fully outside the protection of the Earth's Wings, the blinding light of the sun began to glare against the window. The crane continued to stretch till I was over the side of the landing pad where the ships were docked and directly above the ocean.  
"Lower Mini Wings..."  
The crane started once again, this time lowering straight down. I felt the current of the ocean as soon as the sub hit the water, the waves pushing gently against it's side.   
~Mini Wings has entered the water...~ Gennom's voice came through.  
"Releasing cables..." I replied, flipping some of the switches back.   
~Releasing Mini Wings.~  
The mini sub gave a small fall downward as the it was released into the ocean, splashes of water dripping against the front window. Above me I heard the crane begin to close back into the Earth's Wings. "Gennom... Alita-Three... Can you guys still here me?" I asked, adjusting my headset once again.  
"Loud and clear..." Alita's voice replied through the ear piece. "How are you doing in there?"  
"Getting sea sick..." I muttered in reply as the waves continued to rock the small ship. "Let's get this over with..."  
"I'll be leading you every step of the way..." the hologram assured.   
"Alright then..." I reached up and flipped some more switches that rest on the ceiling. "Let's get started shall we? Submerging Mini Wings!"  
I pushed the two grooved handles forward and the submarine dove forward immersing itself down into the depths of Neptune. At first my hands trembled because of all the metal bars around, I was uneasy. But after moving steadily through them and beginning my descent into pure sea, I began to feel at ease...  
View wasn't too bad either...  
"I'm sending you the coordinates of the storage shelter..." Alita-Three informed and within moments the information was received and planted on my screen.  
"Thanks Alita-Three..." I said, flipping a few more switches to turn on the lights so I was able to see past the shadows. For a few moments I drifted into the seemingly bottomless sea, hands resting gently on the black steering rods. The Mini Wings almost seemed to pilot itself towards the indicated coordinates as the sea life swam by, unmindful of the invader of their territory. Above I noticed a pod of dolphins (presumably the ones I saw earlier) as they swam past, flipping their tails as they glided effortlessly through the waters.  
Silence was all that filled the tiny submarine as the decent continued at a steady pace, the headlights guiding the ever darkening path that lie before me. There was a tiny 'bleep' every now and then from the navigation system, sending out radar like signals and bringing the information back to me.  
~Raina...~  
I jumped at the sound of Gemmon's voice as it blasted through the earpiece. After a few moments, I managed to exhale the sudden intake of air I had taken. "Gennom... Please warn me before you do that..." I muttered with a groan.  
~I apologize Raina...~ the electronic voice replied. ~You should be nearing the shelter hold. Do you have visual clearance?~  
I paused, my eyes scanning what I could see of the coral reef on which Mini Wings was descending upon. For a moment, I saw nothing but the multicolored patters and creatures living in the Neptunian sea, but my eye happened to catch a hold of some metal lining within the reef. "I think I see it..." I murmured in reply, stretching my hand to the side and pinpointing the object's coordinates. They matched perfectly to those of the shelter.   
"Yeah, that's it..."  
"Okay, lower the Mini Wings till it comes face to face with the opening," the hologram instructed. Giving a small boost to the jump jets, I was able to slide the sub to the designated position and paused.   
"What now?"  
The answer came as the two doors of the shelter slide to either side and allowed me passage in. I paused, blinking in confusion. "Not much security on this shelter is there?"  
"Oh there is..." Alita-three's voice assured. "Just not yet... Enter the shelter and park the Mini Wings... The doors'll close and the water level should lower so you'll be able to get out and walk..."  
"How long will that take?" I asked as I pushed the Mini Wings' handle's forward, the mini sub slipping into the docking area. It wasn't small, as I originally thought it would be, but could probably fit five or six Mini Wings inside with room to spare... It was mostly barren, except for a staircase on the far right side leading to a tightly sealed door.  
"Just a few moments," the hologram replied. "Of course that's with the presumption that all the parts are working properly..."  
I twitched slightly as the Mini Wings made it's slow decent to the floor beneath. "And what happens if all the parts of this shelter aren't working properly...?"  
"The doors will close, the water won't drop and you'll be stuck in there..."  
"That's just so comforting Alita-Three..."  
Laughter echoed through the earpiece. "Oh don't worry! We check all underwater systems and shelters weekly! Everything should be fine!"  
And the doors slid shut.  
I waited quietly, seconds stretching themselves into minutes. At first, nothing happened, and my tension grew, only to be released as I started hearing a small hiss from outside the Mini Wings. I flipped a few switches, the landing gears on the mini sub being released and touching down softly onto the metal floor below.  
"Is that noise what I think it is?" I asked.  
"That it is... The water is being drained out... You can turn off the engine and lights and prepare to exit the Mini Wings..."  
I shifted slightly, feeling relived that I'd be getting out of the cramped space I was confined to. My hand reached up to the ceiling of the sub and began flipping the switches to 'off' one by one. Outside the window, I could see the lights from the ceiling above flicker on and only then did I turn off the headlights.   
As all systems of the Mini Wings, except that of communication were shut down, I was left only to watch as the level of water lowered past the window. Even after the level had gone past down past my line of vision, I waited casually till the hissing noise had come to a stop.  
"You can exit the Mini Wings now, the water has been drained out," Alita-Three's voice rang.   
"Read you loud and clear..."  
I reached over to the main control panel and pushed down the dark green button harshly. There was a small humming noise as the door to the Mini Wings surged open and I was granted access to leave. Cautiously, I slid myself over to the door and crouched forward, sitting inside the doorway, looking around the dock area.   
"Alita-three?" I asked, moving the head piece slightly to fit my ear more comfortably now that I had moved to a different position. "There is still water in the dock..."  
"Oh, that's normal... There's storage holds against the wall that hold the water till one exits and they made them a bit too small so there's always a foot or so level of water on the lower levels..."  
I gave an exasperated sigh, glancing down at my black leather boots. "But these are new boots..." I grumbled.  
~I advised you not to wear those Raina...~ Gennom's voice said, stating his first line in a while. ~Hate to say it, but I told you so...~  
"Damn-it Gemmon..." I muttered in an inaudible tone.   
~I heard that...~  
"Yeah well you hear everything..."  
With a small push, I jumped off the Mini Wings and landed neatly on the floor of the dock, the water splashing around my lower legs. I groaned slightly and began moving sluggishly towards the stairway. Moving in water made my walk slower, but I was more worried about how my boots were going to look by the end of the day...  
As I reached the stairway, I didn't bother taking the first few water covered steps, instead using the railway to hoist myself up to the first step untouched by water. My feet squished as I did so and water seeped out of my shoes. "Alright Alita-Three," I murmured with a curse, walking up towards the door. "What now?"  
"The first door should have a control panel next to it..." she started. "Do you see it?"  
I came to a halt next to the door and nodded, even though she couldn't see me. "Yeah..."  
"Type in 5-7-1-2 then hit clear..."  
I did as I was instructed and with a small bleep, the door slid open and I gained access to another hallway. I smiled to myself and began walking down. "Now what?"  
Alita-Three replied, "Take the third hallway on the right..."  
I walked quickly, the water still sloshing out of my shoes and onto the floor, leaving a trail behind. I reached the designated hallway and turned down it. "I am in the third hallway to the right..." I announced, pausing momentarily for a reply.   
"Follow this hallway till it's end and there should be another door that needs another password..."   
Doing as I was told, I reached the next door within seconds, hand reaching up to touch the keypad of numbers. "Password?" I asked.  
"2-6-0-5." was the reply.  
I quickly plugged in the code and hit clear and again, the door swung open, this time to reveal another set of stairs, leading down... back into a foot deep worth of water... I groaned and started down the stairwell, reaching the bottom. "And they just got dry too..."   
"What was that?" the hologram asked.  
"Never mind... what now?"  
"Walk five steps forward and duck..."  
This information was a little late considering I was on my fourth step into the hallway and my foot landed as she finished. And of course, dimwitted me had to ask... "Why?"  
She didn't have to reply...  
At that moment a surge of fire sped towards me and I barely had time to duck beneath it, soaking nearly my entire body as I did so. As the line of flame stopped, I stayed frozen in my spot. "What... was that...?!" I managed to ask.  
"...security system..." was the hologram's reply.  
"Any more 'security-things' I should know about?" I asked, slowly getting out of my crouched position and standing fully upright.  
"Yeah... this hall is full of them..."  
"Damn..."  
What seemed like the millionth groan escaped my lips. "How do I avoid them...?"  
"By following my directions..."  
I took a deep breath. "Alright... fire away... no pun intended..."  
"Two steps forward and get to the left wall as fast as you can..."  
Reluctantly, I took one step forward, then paused. I closed my eyes, not wanting to take the next step... But hey... I was the one who offered to gather the Senshi... My fault... I took the second step and immediately heard something slide and slammed myself against the left wall as a huge spear whizzed past the area where I was.   
I blinked a few times, watching as the spear hit the wall. "Question... why all the security in this place?"  
"The Neptune Crystal is extremely expensive and it is treasured by the royal family... Why else?" the hologram asked. I gave a groan. "Alright... you're about five steps from the far wall right?"  
"Yeah..." I confirmed. "What's the next step..."  
"You mean the next steps..."   
"...?"  
"The next few moves you have to do rapidly otherwise you're dead..."  
I gulped.  
"First you'll take a step forward, get to the right side," Alita-Three's voice explained through the headset. "The moment that trap passes you, take three steps forward and duck. Don't take the last step, instead jump on the spear that passed by you earlier... Alright?"  
"...no..." my voice sounded weak.   
"Why not?"  
"Cause I'm going to die... and that's not 'alright'..."  
"You're not going to die... just do exactly as I told you..."  
"And I have to do this in a foot of water...?"  
"Yup... Good luck..."  
Another groan. For a moment, I made no movement, simply stood there, taking deep breaths to ease my pounding heart. "Okay..." I said. "I'm ready..."  
That was probably the biggest lie I've ever told...  
I took the first step, heard a click and swerved my body to the right wall and three arrows sped past me, embedding themselves on the far wall. I quickly spun myself around again and sped three steps forward and tried to duck... That wasn't very successful... Well it was... just not in the way I planned...  
I slipped and fell backwards into the water as another spear whizzed overhead from behind me. Without even moving, I heard another click and felt something rush above my feet. Blinking, I sprang to my feet, now completely drenched by the cold water.   
"Raina! What happened?! Raina!"  
"....what...?"  
There was a paused in Alita-Three's voice. "What happened? You're not dead, are you?!"  
"...no... not dead..." I managed to say, my body shaking slightly. "Just completely terrified..."  
"Well?! What happened?"  
"...I slipped..."  
Another pause. "Oh my god... you're kidding right...?!"  
"...no..."  
"You slipped, and lived?!"  
"...yeah..."  
"And in one piece?!"  
"...I think so..."  
"Heh... you may be the klutzy-ist person I've met thus far... But you're probably one of the luckiest too..."  
"...is the hallway safe now...?"  
I could tell Alita-Three was laughing at my meek voice. "Yes Raina, the traps have all been used, you don't have to worry about it any more..."  
I gave a long sigh of pure relief and felt a smile creep up onto my face. My sudden happiness turned to curiosity as I looked at the wall in front of me... It appeared as though the two spears, and the arrow, made an almost stairway-like appearance on the wall... I leaned forward, looking down into the perpendicular hallway and blinked as I saw that what had passed over my feet was a long metal javelin that might as well been a sword... It had hit perfectly on a already made hole in the wall. My eyes turned upward and even more surprise filled me as I saw that the 'stairway' now led to a small platform, next to which was a door.  
"What the heck...?"  
I heard Alita-Three laugh in the background. "The traps in the hallway are so necessary because the spears and arrows make the stairway up and the javelin hits a trigger that lets loose the platform..." she explained. "If any of these traps were to hit a human body, or get intercepted in anyway, it would be almost impossible to reach the next room..."  
"So basically if there's more than one person and one gets hit, the other won't be able to reach the Neptune Crystal...?"   
"Basically..."  
I gave a small shake of the head and a smirk as well. I moved through the water, pausing to ring out my ponytail, then began my ascent across the stairway of weapons. Each weapon was stuck precisely and strongly into the wall making my journey easy. Once I reached the platform, I paused.  
"...Alita-Three..." I asked, blinking as I saw a small black screen next to the door. "What's the black screen thing for...?"  
"Finger print test... It's so only a select few can get into the next room..." the hologram replied. "I hacked into the system so the door should open for you... Just place you hand on it..."  
I did as I was instructed, and placed my hand firmly against the black glass. A small, green light passed down the screen, scanning my hand.   
~Entry Accepted...~ a voice that was not too different from Gennom's rang from the walls of the shelter. ~Welcome to the treasure room, Raina Saverse Invan...~  
And the two doors slid open.  
  
"Never again... never again..." I muttered, sliding out of the Mini Wings and onto the deck of the Earth's Wings. Once outside and leaned backward, stretching a cramp that had built up in my back. I grumbled some, still rather wet from the little expedition under the sea.   
The door to the dock area slid open and not one, but two Alita's ran to greet me. The first was a new one I figured, for she was dressed differently that the others I had met wore... The others had worn dresses and this one looked more on the casual side...  
Blinking, I watched the girl curiously as she came to a halt in front of me. "So you were successful in your journey?" she asked. It took me a while to reply.  
"...yeeees...." I managed to pull out. "Which one are you...?"  
The young woman laughed at my reply. "I am Alita Dislunion, Princess and heir to the planet of Neptune... I'm the original, I assure you..."  
Cautiously, I raised a single finger and poked her shoulder, and was filled with relief as my finger hit flesh instead of going through. I expressed my relief with a sigh. I took a step back and bowed properly. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you Princess Alita... I am Raina Saverse Invan..."   
As I returned to my straight posture I pulled out a small object from my pocket and handed it to her. It was Neptune's Crystal, shaped in the trident like shape of the planet's symbol. "This belongs to you now..." I informed as the red haired princess lifted the crystal from my hand. She smiled.  
"I only have on request..." I added. Alita blinked and tilted her head to one side.  
"Oh? And what would that be?"  
"...NO HOLOGRAMS..."  
  
~Gennom's Computer Bank: Crew Members~  
Name: Alita Dislunion  
Age: 18  
Senshi: Neptune  
Appearance: 5'8"-short red hair-gold eyes  
Other Distinguishing Features: none  
Background: Daughter of Elena and Dynast Dislunion. Is part of the rumored 'Prankster Princesses' and has been known to play tricks and pranks using her holograms. Is quite advanced in her academic knowledge though has had no physical training. Enjoys playing the flute and violin.  
  
Authors Note: I know... really long... I'm sorry... I'll try and make Uranus' part shorter!!! But I do hope you enjoyed! :)   
~Lordess 


	4. Part 2 3: Between Neptune and Uranus

Authors Note: Uranus is taking longer than I thought... *sniff sniff* but I put in a little intermission part that I hope you enjoy! Well please read and review! Oh, and considering I forgot the disclaimer in the preivious chapter I'll put it here: I don't own Sailor Moon (or should I say Sailor Pluto...?) and I'm writing this only for fun! :)   
BTW, thansk to those who have reviewed mi story! I'm surprised people liked it!!! :) Now that that's settled... Read and review!!!  
  
2.3: Between Neptune and Uranus  
  
"...and no touching the main computer unless I give you specific directions to do so... I understand those from Neptune are advanced and are picky about what electronics are around them... But this is my ship and if I find a single microchip in a different place, I will personally proceed to mash you into a pulp..."  
"...I understand..."  
"Glad we're at an understanding... Any questions?"  
"...One... This may sound inferior but... how do you open the door?"  
At the arise of this question, my gaze turned from the Princess Alita to the aqua green door with intricate designs of sea weed and sea creatures carven into it. I took a deep breath, looking the door over. "Well..." A pause. "I don't know..."  
The princess looked at me oddly. "You don't know? But this is your ship, isn't it?" she asked, looking at me closely, trying to find an answer to her 'oh-so-inferior' question that I wasn't able to answer.  
"It is my ship... But I don't know how to run it..."  
"But if you don't know how to run it then-"  
"How 'bout this..." I suggested, cutting her off. "We skip the details and just figure out how to open the door..." The princess shrugged and I took that as a signal that I should proceed in my investigation. I knelt down in front of the door and looked over the handle that I was now at eye level with. I had never really paid close attention to any of the doors before, and now looking at one of them close up, I felt really bad for not listening to my father before when he was explaining them to me...  
The handle to the door was simple enough... But the key hole was something else altogether... simply because there really wasn't a key hole... There was an indentation of the symbol of Neptune yes, but no place for a key to go into...  
I grabbed it firmly with one hand and twisted it one way, then the other, but both failed to open or unlock the door... I experimented with it, pushing the handle forward, pulling it back while twisting... Still no success.  
It was a moment later when I heard one Gennom's monitors roll it's way into the hallway, coming to a stop behind me and Alita. I paid little attention to him and continued to infuriate myself with the door handle mystery.  
~Raina...? We have a slight problem...~  
"Don't I know it..." I mumbled under my breath with a curse. "I'm a bit busy right now..."  
~This is kind of important... Mr. Greywind hacked into my system again...~ Gennom's voice continued, sounding slightly nervous. I gave a small groan, momentarily taking my eyes off the handle to properly roll them.   
"Then send him another dragon virus!" I muttered, hand falling from the doorknob to rest on my knee.  
~I haven't had the time to make another copy yet, Raina...~   
"...that... and I already blocked Gennom's access to that system..."  
The hairs on the back of my neck bristled at the sound of the voice. A slow anger rose inside me, though for the moment, I refused to turn around.   
"Who's that...?" Alita asked in a curious voice. I stood and casually turned up to the monitor. Gennom's voice pattern screen was now only a mere box in the corner and a male's face greeted me with a smile.   
"Good evening, Raina..." Kyle said, a smile of amusement flickering across his face. The princess turned from the screen to me.  
"...boyfriend...?" she asked. I shook my head and gave a small grumble.  
"No... annoying pest..." My correction was understood and she replied with a small 'oh' and a nod. My eyes narrowed slightly as Kyle's prideful look only grew more prideful. "Kyle... don't you ever learn?"  
"Oh I do..." he replied. "That's why I made sure to temporarily cut the connection between Gennom and some of his hard-drive files... The dangerous ones that is..." He paused. "That and I'm not using my laptop this time..."  
"So how bad is your computer...?"  
The smile faded and was replaced by a grimace. "It's going to be in the shop for a week..."  
My frown, however, was taken over by a smirk. "Such a pity..." Sarcasm drown that statement causing the boy to give me a long glare.  
"Anyway..." Kyle stretched the word out to consume a few seconds and calm his anger. "Having problems with the door?" That oh-so-annoying smirk came back. "You know you could always try saying 'Open Sesame'..."  
"And you could try shutting up and let me think..." I snapped in reply. The boy stuck his tongue out playfully at me and I gave a grotesque look back. "Real mature Kyle..."  
The boy laughed. "Oh you're one to talk..." he said dryly, though held his smile constant.   
"I'm more mature than you'll ever be... In every troublesome situation that I come to, I handle it with quick and graceful ease..." I explained, making a few hand gestures to make it more believable. "Isn't that right Gennom?"  
~That is correct Raina...~ he replied, making me smile an 'I-told-you-so' smile. ~But Raina... aren't you the one who usually gets yourself stuck in those troublesome situations?~  
Kyle began laughing at this as my smile faded into a look of revenge. Even the Princess Alita began giggling. I glared at the computer's voice pattern. "Gennom... if you make one more negative comment about me... I will tear your circuits out... Got it...?"  
~...Yes Raina...~  
"Good..."  
As Kyle recovered from his laughing, he spoke. "Why don't you try the crystal, Raina...?"   
I tilted my head up at him curiously. "The crystal...?" Without him replying, I was able to figure out what he meant. "Oh, the Neptune Crystal..." A 'tsk tsk' and a shake of my head. "Yeah right Kyle... Alita's just going to hold up her crystal and ask it to open the door for her and the crystal will obey and use it's magic to open the door... Right..."  
"Um... Not exactly..." the Princess Alita said, tapping my shoulder. Curiously, I turned around to look at her, and to my surprise, the door stood wide open. My mouth casually dropped to the floor about then.  
"Wha...?"  
Alita laughed and pointed towards the door knob. There, placed in it, was the Neptunian Crystal... The Princess smiled. "The crystal was the key..." she explained simply.   
"Oh..." I muttered, hearing Kyle begin to laugh behind me. "That works..."  



	5. Part 2 4: Uranus

Authors Note: TADA!! URANUS IS FINISHED!!! *dances around with ultimate joy* FINALLY!!! took long enough... Anyway... This isn't as long as Neptune (I think... hope too...) And I enjoyed writing it! It's a bit depressing so pull out those tissues!!! Read and Review!!!  
Disclaimer: nope, don't own Sailor Moon. (who'd want to?! just kidding!!! ^__^*) And bunch of other people do and they are lucky people... imagine all the money they're making!!! much better than my measly allowance... *sniff* onto the story before I start complainging more!  
  
2.4: Uranus  
  
Like the planet Neptune, the planet of Uranus also has something of an endless blue, though instead of beneath, it is above...  
The sky of Uranus is the reason it's such a commercial planet and tourist trap. Though I must admit, the view is wonderful... Clouds are sparse and when they do arrive, they create a pleasant shade and shelter from the sun that hangs in the sky. All life and vegetation on Uranus have adapted to such that they get along fine with out yearly rains.  
Usually the cities are sparse, though travel across the planet has been made quite easy, and fast as well. The Palace of Uranus is built of strong stone and other earthly materials creating almost a medieval cathedral appearance with stain glass windows portraying both the royal family line and the original Senshi of Uranus.  
It was the next day, and I was now well rested and ready for any disaster to come my way. The Princess Alita had decided to remain on the Earth's Wings, muttering something about remodeling her room... How she planned to do that, I had no idea. But as long as she didn't figure out how to turn Gennom off, I didn't need to worry much...  
Course... Those of Neptune were very advanced...  
I pushed the thoughts out of my head and continued to walk forward. I was in the front garden area that was lined with Marble walkways and ivy covered walls. Each was like a hallway, stretching wide enough for cars to come through. I took little noticed, however, being busy reading a pocket sized health chart for Princess Alita. It was best to know what kind of problems she'd have once training started... As the saying goes, be prepared.  
In the back of my mind, I thought I heard a low rumble of machinery and subconsciously thought it sounded like dirt bikes. I quickly pushed that thought out of my head and returned my concentration to the electronic file at hand. Who would be riding dirt bikes right outside the Palace of Uranus...?  
Little did I know I was about to get my answer...  
The moment I reached the center of a junction, I heard two screams, causing me to stop in my tracks, head jerking upright. The first scream was a male, shouting something along the lines of 'Watch out!' and the second was a female, and simply a scream. My head swung to the right to see two dirt bikes heading straight towards me at top speed.   
With lightning fast reflexes, I flipped back, doing a headstand for a moment before pushing myself upwards again, landing on my feet in a crouched position. The first motorcycle had been heading straight for me, and the driver apparently had tried to skid to a stop and failed, for now the bike skid to one of the walls, and the driver lay a distance away.   
I quickly ran over to the driver and tried to help her up. She jerked away and stood perfectly fine on her own. "Are you alright?" I asked with a worried tone. That was just what I needed, to hurt someone during my first hour of arriving.   
"You jerk!" the girl screamed, pulling off her helmet. Her hair, a dark grayish blue bounced in their pigtails, tied with navy scrunches. Long strand of this shoulder length hair fell down in front, covering one eye, while the other red one watched me with a blazing hatred.  
"Why don't you watch where you're walking?!"   
"I'm very sorry..."  
The girl ignored me for a moment and watched as the second driver continued to speed off in the distance leaving nothing but a trail of dust. "Now I'm never gonna catch up to him..." she said with a cold tone. Her young teenage face turned back to mine. "Thanks a lot, jerk..."  
Well... wasn't she nice...?  
"Well excuse me..." I said, now giving the girl a small scowl. I walked over to where her bike lay and bent over to inspect it. "What where you doing racing in the courtyard anyway...?"   
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she screamed, running over to me, pushing me away from the bike harshly. "Stay away from it!"  
I stood up, though did not make any motion to move away, my blue eyes locking into her red ones. "There's a dent in the side and I'll more than gladly pay for it's repair... Nothing else looks damaged... If you find anything wrong, contact me and I'll give you the amount needed..." My eyes seemed to cover themselves with a layer of cold ice, and so did hers. Expression emotionless, I swerved around and walked to another part of the cross section, finding the data on Alita and picking it up, pocketing it quickly.  
"Do you even know who I am...?!"   
I looked over my shoulder, expression still not changing. I gave her a quick look over. "...No..." The girl's anger changed to slight irritation, slight confusion. She arched her head back to get a better look.  
"You're the new Senshi leader... aren't you...?" she asked.  
"I guess you could call me that..." I replied. "And you are...?"  
"Ookami Angelist, Second child of the King Ikari Angelist and Queen Rei Angelist. First daughter conceived..."  
...Crap... Did that mean she was the next Senshi of Uranus...? My mind pondered this for a moment, and came up with the same reaction... 'Crap...'  
I gave a smile, and made it clearly noticeable that it was forced. "Well... Isn't that just peachy..." I murmured, under my breath. "Excuse me for a moment..." With that, I turned around and began banging my head against the stone wall.   
'You have GOT to be kidding me...' my mind screamed. 'She's the next Senshi of Uranus, whom YOU have to train and get to follow your orders... And what do you do? Almost crash her dirt bike and make her lose a race! You SERIOUSLY need to work on your people skills, Raina...'  
With a grunt, I pushed myself away from the wall and began walking towards the palace once more. Behind me, I heard the Princess Ookami lifting her dirt bike up. "Where do you think you're going?!" she asked huffily.   
"Where else?" I asked, tossing a hand up indolently as I continued to walk forward. "To go make chat with your mother and father..." I heard a grunt from the Princess as she began to follow me. Apparently, she was going the same way I was, either that or she just chose to follow me to annoy me. I glanced over my shoulder to see her glaring at me as she pushed her dirt bike forward by the handles. I shrugged and turned back towards the walk way, throwing my hands behind my head.  
"You never did answer my question..."  
"What question...?" Her voice was flat, and I could tell that she was going to hold this incident against me for as long as she could.  
"Why were you dirt biking around a courtyard...?" I asked again, not looking back. "That sounds like something Kyle and I would do back when we were in training..."  
A grunt from behind. "Dirt biking is a very popular sport here, in case you didn't know..." she snapped in reply, and I got the feeling if I tried to come near her, she'd bite me. Oh yes... she was DEFINITELY angry...   
"My God... are you going to like this every time I'm around?!"  
"Probably..."   
"I said I was sorry!"  
"You think that's good enough?! This was my favorite bike!"  
I muttered some curses under my breath. "Fine... be that way... It's just going to make it all the more harder for you..." I mused, developing a grumpy attitude of my own.   
The rest of the walk up the courtyard was silent, me walking in the lead and the Princess Ookami trailing behind a few steps, glaring at me all the way. It was the moment that we entered through the main doors of the palace that she spoke.  
"You don't look like a leader of the Senshi..." she mused with a grunt. I stopped my walking, the gentle click of my boots stopping as well. I gazed over my shoulder with a cool eye, raising a single eyebrow, momentarily wondering why she had brought the dirt bike inside the palace...  
"And you don't much look like a member of the Senshi..."  
She snorted.  
I snorted back.  
And a minor staring contest began...  
Or rather... glaring contest...  
"Princess Ookami!"   
It was that voice who broke the staring contest, causing both Ookami and I to tilt our heads to one side. And old man walked quickly forward through the hallway, his robes and beard trailing him as he went. I heard Ookami give a scowl, but she hid it as the man came to a stop.  
"Princess! How many times have I told you not to race in the courtyard?" the man scolded. I almost smiled... almost. Maybe I wouldn't get in as much trouble as I thought...  
"But Teacher Calbren!" the princess said with a argumentative tone. "Shinji started it! He said I couldn't beat him!"  
"That's no excuse! And he shall be punished the same as you!"  
"But Calbre-en!"  
"No but's..." Calbren said, sternly. "Now go put your bike away and get yourself changed. Your mother wishes to see you in the library..." With that, Ookami gave a growl and began exiting the main hallway down a side path, grumbling as she went.  
The old man with white hair covered by a blue hat, turned to me and smiled, green eyes twinkling. "My apologies, young miss..." he said. "Did the young Princess Ookami nearly run over you in the courtyard...?"  
I stifled a laugh. "Well, no... I wasn't watching where I was walking and-"  
"Oh don't try and protect the girl," the man said with a laugh. "She's been told numerous times not to race with her elder brother, young Prince Shinji, in the hallways of the courtyard."  
I wondered if he called everyone 'young'... Pondering, I figured that he probably did...  
"Now miss, may I ask of your name and business with the royal family?" he asked, smile turning into curiosity.  
"My name is Raina Saverse Invan, captain of the Earth's Wings," I replied proudly. "I've come to speak with his or her majesty regarding the collection of the senshi..." The man smiled once more, using his bony hand to give me a pat on the back.  
"The Palace of Uranus welcomes you, young Ms. Invan!" he said, giving another laugh. "Please, right this way to the library! The Queen Rei has been expecting you!"  
I blinked, following the man through the hallways. "Really...?" Technically my ship had been an day early... We were supposed to dock at Neptune overnight but I figured that we already had enough supplies to last us till Jupiter so I just engaged auto pilot.   
"The Lady Pluto contacted us to tell us you were arriving today, so we arranged plans to have a dinner in your honor," Calbren explained. My eyes grew wider.  
"A dinner in my honor...?"   
"Why yes."  
"You didn't have to do that, really..."  
"Well why not? You are going to train the Senshi, are you not? That is a great honor in itself, and to lead the Senshi as well..." The teacher smiled. "You are already considered a hero among many of the people of this planet."  
This was new to me... Praise... Glory... I almost felt uncomfortable.  
"Sir Calbren, was it...?" I asked. He nodded. "I am flattered by your kind offer, but I cannot accept..."  
"I won't take no for an answer, Ms. Invan..."  
I paused at the new, warm voice, and turned to see a woman standing just outside one of the doors. Her hair of a light blue shade and short, falling into her red eyes. She wore a long white dress with blue and gold sashes and little jewelry. The woman smiled at my confusion.  
"My Queen..." Calbren said, bowing immediately. Blinking, I stiffly bowed as well.   
"Please, just call me Raina, Queen Rei Angelist..." I said, standing upright once more. The Queen smiled warmly.  
"As you wish..." she said, smiling warmly. "But I have already ordered the makings of a feast and it will go to waste if you do not attend..."  
"I thank you for your generosity, Queen Rei..." I said, bowing once more. "Would you mind if the Princess Alita Dislunion of Neptune joined the feast as well?"  
The Queen smiled and shook her head. "Not at all," was her reply. "I have not seen the Princess Alita in many years and I'm sure my eldest son would love to see his biggest crush once again..." I gave a laugh. I wonder if Alita knew that the Prince Shinji (that was his name, right...?) had the hots for her...?   
"Oh I am being rude," the queen said suddenly and moved away from the doorway. "Please come in and sit yourself down!" I nodded my thanks and smiled as I entered the rather large library. It was larger than the library in Pluto's castle, and rather impressive, though from what I've heard and gathered, Mercury's library is the biggest.  
But this library was indeed beautiful with two stories and winding staircases and shelves and shelves of books. At the far end was a pair of large stain glass doors that were open to reveal an outside deck with many comfortable looking chairs and tables.   
"Please tell the chef that dinner will be held at six in the evening, and to have everything ready by then," I heard the queen tell Calbren. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the old man bow respectfully before leaving.   
I turned around casually as the Queen walked to my side. She smiled pleasantly. "Shall we?" she asked, motioning towards the table outside. I nodded quietly and followed her, being mindful not to step on her trailing dress. "This library is quite beautiful," I commented.  
"Why thank you," the queen said, taking her first step outside, the sun shimmering off of her gold and sapphire crown. "It's a shame the only Asuka, my youngest daughter, pays any attention to this library.  
"The Princess Ookami doesn't enjoy books...?" I pondered as the two of us sat down. "That's a shame..."  
"Indeed... Her and her elder brother are usually dirt biking across the palace..." the queen replied. There was a small silence as she picked up the teapot carefully and filled two of the petit cups, offering one to me. She took a sip, and so did I. "It's Ookami who you came for, am I right...?"  
I set the teacup down carefully. "I have been asked by Lady Setsuna of Pluto to gather the next line of Senshi... Should Ookami be the eldest daughter in the royal line of Uranus, then indeed, I do come for her..."  
"I see..." Rei said calmly. She smiled warmly. "Well then so be it. But I do have a question. Why is it only females who become Senshi...?"  
Somehow, the image of Kyle in a Senshi's fuku popped into my mind and I had to force myself not to laugh. "I honestly don't know you're highness..." I replied, swallowing my laugh attack. Something about guys in short skirts with pink bows in their hair just makes me want to start rolling on the ground in loud laughter... Call my crazy, but it's true...  
"Mama...?"  
The voice belonged to Ookami, but instead of strong, it was now slightly timid. Both the Queen Rei and I turned to see the young princess as she walked out onto the balcony. Rei smiled and I stood up. "Raina, this is my eldest daughter, Ookami..."  
"We've met," I replied, giving a small smile. Rei looked at me curiously.  
"Oh?" Sudden exasperation on her part. "Don't tell me she ran over you in the courtyard with her dirt bike..."  
Ookami's head snapped up angrily towards her mother. "Mama!" she almost shrieked. "She was in my way!"  
Rei gave a small sigh. "Yes, dear, and according to you, the Princess Yukai was in your way too and somehow managed to pull off a broken leg as well..." the Queen replied.   
'Princess Yukai...?' my mind pondered. 'Who's that...?' I, however hungry for information, remained silent, and Ookami became silent as well.  
"I apologize for my daughter's recklessness..." the queen said, turning to me with sympathy. I smiled.  
"It's alright," I assured, turning from the Queen to the Princess. I extended one hand towards her. "No hard feelings?"  
Ookami glared at my hand, then turned to look me in the eye. My hand remained unshaken.  
"Ookami..." her mother warned. The princess glanced at Rei and with one quick motion, grabbed my hand, gave it a harsh, almost lethal shake, before letting go quickly as if I were poison. I flexed the numbness from my fingers before returning to my sitting.  
The moment I was fully seated once more, Calbren entered the library at his usual quick pace. "Queen Rei!" he said, expression slightly worried. "The doctor wishes to see you." Rei's expression changed to match Calbren's, as did Ookami's.  
"Oh dear..." she murmured, then turned to me with a forced smile. "Forgive me Raina, I must cut this conversation short." She quickly stood, and I stood as well, bowing once more before her majesty.  
"It's alright, I understand the pressures of royalty..." I replied. I didn't, but it sounded polite anyway...  
Rei smiled. "I shall see you at tonight's dinner then," she said kindly. I smiled back and nodded.  
"I shall be there."   
With that the Queen, Ookami, and Calbren left.  
  
"Raina...? Going to a dinner...? With royalty...? Something doesn't sound right..."  
"Shut up Kyle..."  
"What? I'm being serious! You've never had a dinner with a royal family go well!"  
"Always room for a first..."  
"There a reason I don't believe you?"  
I turned abruptly to glare at the screen which held the face of Kyle. He had called, yet again, to bug me with his incessant complaining. "The reason you don't believe me is because you're so dense!" I yelled back. "Now don't you have babysitting to do?!"  
His face twitched. "...She's having dinner with her father, thank you..." was his reply. I snorted and turned back to the closet held within the pilot's room. There was a room for the Senshi of Earth, which my mother used, but I preferred smaller quarters than that, and this room was much more comfortable...  
I began sorting through the clothes, finding only a few dresses. I never did like them... I'd more willingly wear a tuxedo then a dress, but I knew that being a representative for Earth, and a senshi, it was my duty to be a presentable female...  
I gave a tiresome sigh as I yanked two of the hangers out and turned back towards the screen. "Red or black?" I asked, holding the two dresses up for him to see. Kyle inspected the two dresses carefully, thinking.  
"I'd say the red..." he mused. I gave a sigh, threw the red dress up so the hanger hooked onto the top of the monitor, the dress veiling the screen. "Hey!"  
"Black it is..."I mused, beginning to shed the leather attire.   
"You really didn't have to cover the screen Raina..." Kyle's voice said. I gave a small sneer and he continued. "I can be a gentleman..."  
"You're Kyle Greywind..." I muttered, throwing my shirt and pants onto the hammock that I usually slept in. I took the dress and carefully began pulling it over my bare skin. "It isn't possible for Kyle Greywind to be a gentleman... only a perverted teenager..."  
He had nothing to say to that... He decided to change subjects instead...  
"Is the Princess Alita going?"  
"Of course she is... She's a princess, I'm not going to leave her on the ship..." I mused, zipping up the back of the dress. Quick, I readjusted the waist line to a comfortable level, the walked quickly over to my dresser, beginning to rummage through till I found some nylons.   
"Maybe you just don't trust someone with a technology major and a big curiosity to be left alone for a few hours on your ship..." Kyle mused.  
"...."  
He laughed, and I momentarily glared at the monitor. With a silent grunt and curse, I quickly began pulling on the dreaded nylons, cursing quietly each time I almost ripped them. I never did like nylons either...  
"I presume it's a good thing that Alita's coming with you..." he continued with a snide tone that made me want to punch his face in. "That way she might be able to stop you from making a complete fool of yourself..."  
"..."   
I paused, finishing the convoluted task of putting nylons on, and pulling the long skirt down over my legs. Moving quickly, I walked over to my dresser again, pulling my hair down as I went. "Hey Gennom..."  
~Yes Raina?~  
"How's the next copy of the dragon virus coming?"  
~Near completion.~  
I heard Kyle moan. "I'll shut up..." he murmured. I smiled proudly, pulling out the barely touched make-up. I looked at the stuff with a sigh.   
"I hate make-up..."  
~If I may, I think you hate everything about dressing up...~ the computer offered. ~Though I don't understand... You loved it as a child...~  
"That's when I had a mother to look up to, Gennom..." I replied. "The rest of my life was spent hanging around my father and the idiot..."  
"Idiot...?" Kyle's voice asked curiously. "And who would that be?"  
I didn't reply, and smiled to myself, beginning to put add the layers of make-up, slowly and carefully. The boy gave a sound of thought, obviously not getting what I was saying (which undoubtedly proved my point).  
"Lets see... you grew up with the original senshi... me... your dad... wait a minute..."  
I couldn't help but laugh, pausing my application of lipstick. "Just drop it Kyle..." I said, finishing with the deep red lipstick and moving onto a light shade of eye shadow.   
"You're cold Raina..." he muttered in a hurt tone. I laughed again and finished my makeup, moving onto my hair.   
"I know am I..." I replied, pulling the top half of my hair back and twisting it into a bun, taking a ribbon and tying it securely with a bow. "So deal with it, Kyle..."   
I smiled at my reflection, satisfied with my decent apparel. The dress I wore was strapless except for the strand of black material that stretched from one side of the dress, around my neck, and down the front to the other side. It wrapped tightly around with a silken sash that dripped to one side of my waist, pinned up by a gold pendant.  
I frowned at the pendant and snapped it off. I walked quickly over to my leather jacket and produced the Earth Locket and slide it quickly onto the sash. I turned back to the mirror and smiled. "What do you think Kyle?" I asked, taking some gloves and slipping the black material over my fingers.  
"I would answer that, but I kind-a can't see you..."  
I turned back to the monitor and pulled off the red dress, throwing it on my hammock as well. I took a step back so Kyle could see better. For a while, he just sat there, blinking with wide eyes. His mouth moved slowly to say something, but no sound came out.  
I smiled. "Have I left you speechless?" I asked, giving a small twirl around, letting the skirt swerve slightly.  
Finally regaining control of his body, Kyle spoke. "You look like a girl!"  
...I glared.  
"I AM one, you half wit!"  
"But you never looked like one before!"  
My anger slowly began to rise. "Gennom!"  
~Yes Raina?~  
"Prepare to send Dragon Virus!" I yelled, getting a shocked look from Kyle.  
~Dragon Virus is not yet complete...~ Gennom's voice replied.  
"I don't care! It will destroy at least half of his hard drive!"  
"Wait Raina!" Kyle yelled. "I'm on Pluto's main computer! If you send the dragon virus, half of Pluto will be paralyzed!"  
"And they'll blame you for it too!" I shot back.  
"Please don't!" Kyle said, throwing his hands up in defeat. "You look very nice Raina! A princess from every angle!"  
I smiled proudly. "Thank you Kyle..." I said. "Now if you don't mind, I've got a dinner to attend to..."   
The boy laughed nervously, pushing some of his black bangs from his face. "Alright... Good luck!" And with that the connection was disconnected. I had a feeling he was muttering 'you're going to need it' once the disconnection was final...  
I shrugged it off as Gennom's voice patter filled the monitor. "Is the Princess Alita ready?"  
~She has been for the last five minutes...~ he replied, sounding slightly exhausted. ~She's waiting for you in the meeting room...~  
I smiled, giving a nervous laugh. "So I take a long time to get ready..." I mused, shrugging as I exited the room, slipping on a pair of black high-heels as I did so. After almost tripping, using the monitor for support, I started on my way down to the meeting room. Gennom's voice screen followed in the provided trail.   
I found the door with the brass name plate that read 'Meeting Room' (across from the Senshi's rooms) and pushed open the door. The room itself was rather large, with a long table that sparkled under the artificial light with chairs on both sides. In one of the closest chairs sat Alita, looking up at the decorative ceiling that was painted with the symbols of the planets.  
She turned to me and smiled. "Well don't you look lovely?" she commented. I smiled back as she stood, letting her long, silken green dress fall to the floor. Her hair has been slicked back and pinned with pearl clips, forming a crown on the top of her head.   
"You look marvelous as well, Princess Alita," I replied. I turned to Gennom's monitor. "Once we leave the ship, lock up and sound the alarm if there are any intruders..."  
~Command noted,~ he replied. ~And may I give you a few suggestions?~  
I shrugged. "What could it hurt? Go ahead..."  
~Don't slurp, don't make bubbles in your drink, don't interrupt...~  
As he continued the long list of 'dos' and 'don'ts' I felt my anger slowly begin to rise.   
~And most importantly Raina...~  
If he said one more thing, I was going to explode...  
~Don't loose your temper...~  
I released all my anger in a long, aggravated sigh. "I know how to act at a dinner Gennom!" I snapped. Alita giggled from behind me.   
"Don't worry Gennom, I'll keep an eye on her!" she said jovially. I grumbled, beginning to walk down the hall again.   
"I'm older than you are Alita... If anything, I should be keeping an eye on you..." I paused. "Oh wait, that's Prince Shinji's job, isn't it?" A smirk crossed my face. Alita gave me a look of confusion and my smirk only grew. So she didn't know...   
Well... this was going to be interesting... interesting indeed...  
  
Though it wasn't as interesting as I had hoped, the dinner did prove entertaining. Well... most of it... Prince Shinji (a rather skinny boy in my opinion, and the same age as Alita) was slaughtering the Neptune Princess with sappy compliments and semi-romantic statements. The poor girl was just writhing with discomfort.  
At the head of the table sat the Queen, and the young prince right next to her. Princess Ookami sat to the right of the Queen, with me next. Across for me was the youngest of the royal family, little six year old Asuka who sat wearing the same disgusted look that Alita was forcing back.  
The rest of the table was occupied with a number of noblemen and women, representatives from different parts of Neptune. They had all come for a meeting that was to be held the next day concerning the welfare of the planet. It was just my luck, they all had come early to pay respects to me, and wish me good luck.   
The dinner was quite delicious, a steak dinner (from some animal I've yet to hear of...) with a side of salad and some potato like substance. I wasn't too used to eating the delicacies of other planets, but managed, smiling through even the disgusting creamy stuff the servants served as a drink... Oh well... onto the conversation.  
"Have I told you what lovely eyes you have?" the prince asked with a suave smile as he looked longingly towards Alita. A forced smile from the princess as she continued cutting the meat before her.  
"Five times, Prince Shinji..."   
I smiled.   
Ah yes... this torture was definitely worth dealing with the gross food...  
The black haired prince expression barely faltered and I could swear there was little sparkles in his eyes. "Oh, please forgive me..." he said, smile widening in the least little bit. "I'm just so in awe by your immense beauty that I'm forgetting my own spoken words..."  
Alita took a breath, as if to say something, but Asuka cut her off.  
"Yuuuck..."  
Laughs from those who were paying attention and not busy eating.   
"Asuka... be polite..." Queen Rei scolded. The young girl looked up, her blue eyes flickering with slight anger and persistence.  
"But mama! Shinji's being gross!" she protested. Shinji merely laughed.  
"I'm not being gross, squirt," he replied, getting an offended look from the young princess. "I'm simply paying our guest a compliment..." Well... they guy knew how to talk... I'll give him that much...  
"I don't see you paying Ms. Raina no comments!" the little girl replied, using her little hand to point across the table to me. I blinked, looking up from my meal, swallowing harshly on the potato like substance in my mouth.  
"Hey, don't bring me into this..." I replied, waving my fork in a scolding manner. Asuka pouted again, crossing her arms, and turning towards Shinji.  
"You just wanna get a kiss!"   
The prince laughed, throwing up his hands in defeat. "Alright! You caught me! Now eat your dinner, squirt!" He reached over and ruffled her hair, causing another small out burst from the child. I glanced at Alita and almost laughed. She looked like she was dying...  
Not noticing Alita's look of despair, Shinji turned to me. "I do have to thank you, Ms. Inverse," he said, smiling warmly. I blinked, setting my fork down momentarily.  
"For what, Prince Shinji Angelist?"  
"For earlier this afternoon in the courtyard," he explained, smiling. "I won the race thanks to you."  
I raised an eyebrow, giving a small smirk. "Are you saying that you won simply because of me?" I asked curiously.  
"Well I'm sure I would have one anyway, but-"  
"But they way you implied, I'd think that you were honestly afraid that your sister was going to beat you..."  
I cornered him in the conversation and left him stuttering. I smiled. "Your sister was tied with you as far as I could have told..." I went on. "I'm sure with the right techniques, she could have won that race without interference..."  
"But there was interference..." Ookami murmured, sending me a long cold glare. She had said little during the dinner, and nothing to me. I could already tell this grudge would last a while...   
"You two shouldn't have been racing in the courtyards in the first place," Calbren said from his place next to Asuka. "The King and Queen have asked you countless times to cease doing so..."   
Tension filled the air...  
Now would be a good time to change subjects...  
"So Queen Rei," I piped up, turning to the blue haired woman. "Where is the King Ikari?" A sad look filled the red eyes, but was forced back with a warm smile.  
"Unfortunately the King is bed ridden, and will be unable to attend either the dinner or the ball..." she said, her voice cracking in the slightest, only noticeable to those paying close attention. Needing another change of subjects, the Queen began a small conversation with her son, and all else went to eating.  
A thirst crept into my throat and I looked with a grimace down at the cup if milky liquid. I reached over and picked it up, bringing it to my lips. Alita cleared her throat, unnoticed by all but me. I blinked, looking up to see her shaking her head at me. I gave her a quizzical look and she mouthed out her reason.  
'Gravy.'  
She tapped a different shaped glass close to her with a wine like substance. Blinking, I looked down to see one of those sitting next to my plate. I looked at the glass in hand.   
No wonder it tasted nasty...  
Making sure that no one had seen my folly (and rightfully glad that no one had) I took a deep smell of the gravy and poured it over my meat. Alita smiled and nodded, silently complimenting my recovery. Years of mistakes led to my expertise in the matter...  
I set the gravy glass down and picked up the other glass and sipped the strawberry wine, liking the taste immediately. I mouthed the words 'Thank You' towards Alita and she nodded again.   
"Raina, you are a senshi yourself, am I right?" Rei asked, drawing my attention towards her. I nodded in reply.  
"Indeed Queen Rei. I am in the position as Senshi of Earth and have been so since my mothers death when I was a child..."  
I saw sympathy in her eyes. "I'm sorry to hear that... your mother's death must have been hard for you..." she said. "So it was your father who took care of you?" I nodded. "And where have you been living?"  
"For most of my life, I lived near the research center on the moon that orbits Earth. Whatever time I didn't live there, my father and I were either traveling in the Earth's Wings or on Pluto or Earth," I answered.   
"When did you start your Senshi training?" Shinji asked curiously. (Alita was quite glad he had left her alone for the time being...)  
`"When I was ten," I answered, smiling. "I was taught by the original senshi themselves..."  
"That's quite impressive!" Rei said, smiling in return. I heard murmurs of approval run through the room. "I've also heard rumor that you trained with the Planetary Knight, is that true also?"  
Ookami looked up from her plate at me, for a moment, all hate gone. Asuka practically jumped to her feet at the mention of the Planetary Knight. "Mr. Gayword?" she asked, smiling. "You trained with him?!"  
I stifled a laugh. Gayword... that's a new one...  
"Yes, I have. And it's Greywind, Kyle Greywind..."   
"Whichever!" she said, still smiling. "That's cool! He's really nice! He came here a few months ago for a visit! He gave me a flower!"  
"How nice of him!" I said, smile almost forced. Typical of him, but nice anyway...  
Ookami's eyes darted back to her untouched meal and she presumed I hadn't noticed. I did however, and noted her reaction. Might come in handy for later uses... But in the mean time, I turned to the Queen.  
"Queen Rei, do you know the location of the Uranus Crystal?" I asked. "Ookami will need it to transform and gain access to her dorm in the ship."   
"Yes, we keep it in our treasure room," she replied. A groan slinked to the back of my throat and I suppressed it. Rei, however, saw my distress and smiled warmly. "I'll have it given to Ookami by tomorrow morning..."  
"I'm not going..."  
All eyes turned towards the first princess.   
"What did you say...?" the queen asked, disbelieving what she had heard. Ookami stood up quickly, her navy dress twirling. Her red eyes seemed aflame.  
"I said I'm not going! I'm not going to go parade around in some skimpy skirt when I can be of more use here!" she screamed, then proceeded to run from the dinning hall. I stood up and made a move to follow her, when Rei stopped me.  
"Just let her cool down... I'll talk to her in the morning and calm her down..." she said, and I sat back down, slightly worried. "I'm sorry about her behavior... The entire castle has been rather uptight lately..."  
I forced a smile. "It's alright, really..." I replied. And as the dinner continued, I gave one last look down the hall where Ookami had disappeared.  
  
"Someone up there really hates me..."  
"If that someone up there hates anyone, they hate me..."  
I stifled a laugh and turned to Alita as exited the crowded ballroom and joined me on the balcony. "And for what reason would that be?" I asked, looking back up at the stars that twinkled brightly.   
"Shinji has not stopped dancing with me since the ball started..." she mused, taking a seat on the bench next to me. "I finally convinced the guy to go dance with some of his loyal, devoted subjects... In other words, the members of his fan club..."  
This time I did laugh. "I take it you don't like the Prince of Uranus," I mused. She wrinkled her nose.  
"Not like would be a understatement... I don't mean to offend the Palace of Uranus, but it's eldest Prince is quite insensitive and selfish..." she replied, turning her gaze to the stars as well. For a while there was nothing but silence. Then Alita spoke again.  
"Go by the grand staircase three rooms down..." she said. I turned to her, blinking oddly.   
"W-wha...? Why?" My articulate speech seemed to fail me... The princess replied by merely pointing back into the ballroom. My gaze followed, seeing nothing but people dancing and drinking at first. But then I realized she wasn't pointing at the people dancing... she was pointing beyond the ballroom, into the dimly lit hallways.  
Ookami was sneaking past...  
"She's going to be heading out the front gates, but she'll be taking a big detour to stay away from the crowds," Alita explained. "Going straight through you should be able to get there with a few minutes before she passes..."  
I raised an eyebrow. "How do you know this?"  
"Years of immaturity and practice at running away..."  
I gave a small sound of amusement and nodded. "And you honestly think I can stop her?" I asked curiously.  
"You're the reason she's running..." Alita countered.  
I gave a long sigh. "...Right..."  
Moving quickly, though not too suspicious looking, I moved through the crowds of people that filled Uranus' ballroom. Passing by one of the waiters, I grabbed one of the wine glasses on his tray. "Don't mind if I do, thank you!" I said brightly, passing by.  
I took a sip. "In order to do this right, I'm doing this drunk..." I mused, continuing through the room. Once leaving the room, I followed Alita's instructions, jogging as best I could three rooms and finding the grand staircase before the main entrance. I climbed a few steps, set myself down, and indulged in the tastes of marvelous strawberry wine, waiting for Ookami's entrance... Or exit rather...  
As I sat there, I thought what I was going to say to her, what would work, what wouldn't. Then I decided if I thought this over, I'd screw up when she said something that I figured she wouldn't... With that thought, I downed half the glass.  
Uranus was known for it's fine wines and champagnes... Strawberry must be the favorite in the royal household... As I pondered this further, watching the ruby liquid swish around the crystal glass, I heard the faint sound of rubber against tile... sneakers...  
I didn't even look up as Ookami walked out from the side of the staircase, slinking quietly towards the front door. On her back was a duffle bag with undoubtedly large bundle of junk. She had changed from her gown and into a pair of short khaki's and a blue tube top.   
I almost laughed.   
"Going somewhere, Princess Ookami?"  
She froze, then twirled around to glare at me. "You!" she exclaimed.  
"Who else?" I asked, sipping the wine.  
"What are you doing here?!"  
I stood and stepped off the stair case, stopping before coming too near to her. "Simply stopping you from making a mistake..." I replied.   
"What mistake?"  
"Why... running away from this..." I said, motioning my hand to the palace around us. "Running away from your home, your family..."  
"I'm not running away from them!" she exclaimed in a hushed voice. "I'm running away from you! I don't want to become a Senshi! I belong here!"  
"Undoubtedly you do..." I replied, taking a few steps to my right, looking up and one of the large stain glass windows. "But sometimes it takes leaving the home, to truly understand that you belong there..."  
"Make some sense, will ya?!" she asked, slightly ticked. I tilted my head towards her.  
"Why don't you want to become a senshi?" I asked. "It's a great honor... You get to fight for..." Oh how did those stories go...?! "Love and Justice..."   
"I don't need to fight for it! And I already have great honor!"  
"And what will become of that honor if you decline?"  
"I don't care! I'm not leaving Uranus!"  
I turned back to the stain glass window, seeing the form of Ten'ou Haruka, the senshi of Uranus. "She didn't really want to become a Senshi either..." I mused aloud. Ookami was quiet for a second, the anger momentarily leaving her red eyes. "She joined to save the life of another... Sailor Neptune I believe..."  
A scowl crossed her lips. "Well Princess Alita doesn't need any help from me..." she snapped. I turned back to her calmly, nodding as I took another sip of wine.  
"But I'm sure someone else does..."  
She froze, her eyes wide as she watched me. I had caught something... Ah yes... wonderful... I smiled mentally, and turned back to the glass painting.  
"Earth is dying, Ookami... And once Earth is destroyed, the dark forces will begin to invade the next planet... and the next... till the entire solar system is theirs..." I explained, letting an act of sadness and dismay arise, at the same time forcing the real feelings towards the back of my mind. I sipped the wine again. "We have a chance to stop it though..."  
Silence filled the room, muffled however, by the sound of the ball a few rooms away. I think I had caught her... A hidden smile crossed my face. This smile, however, was quickly replaced by a frown as Calbren came running down the grand staircase.   
"Princess Ookami!" he said, barely having enough breath to speak. "Where is your mother?" Worry filled his eyes, and that worry spread to Ookami.  
"What?" she asked frantically. "What is it?"  
Calbren took a deep breath. "It's your father, Ookami..."  
Fear struck, she could not move for a few moments, then shot upstairs , dropping the duffle bag and running towards the master chambers. I turned to Calbren. "The Queen Rei is still in the ball, I'll go fetch her..." I said, running back towards the ball. Once inside, my eyes darted back and forth, searching for the blue haired queen. Shinji found me first.  
"What's wrong?" he asked, stopping next to me, Alita at his side. I looked up at him.  
"Where's the Queen?" I asked. Shinji pointed towards the center of the room, and I nodded my thanks. I was about to head off again when the prince stopped me.  
"What is it? Is something wrong with my father?" he asked. Slowly I nodded. "What? What happened to him?" A tone of fear was clear in his voice.   
"I don't know... Calbren didn't tell me..." I replied. "But I suggest you go to him... Calbren did look awful worried..." He nodded and gave one last look at Alita, nodding his farewells before leaving. Alita and I rushed to the Queen, breaking a small conversation and drawing her away.  
"Queen Rei, I believe something's wrong with your husband..." I said in a low voice. The same fear that had struck the two other royal members, hit her as well, but she concealed it better and nodded.   
"Calbren sent you?"  
A nod.  
Rei closed her eyes for a moment, then began her way out of the ballroom, motioning for us to follow. As we made our way up the grand staircase, I asked a question that I hoped would quench the thirst my curiosity held.  
"What's wrong with the King Ikari, my lady?" I asked. She paused only for a moment, glancing back to answer.  
"He'd dying..."  
Rei continued on her way up the stair case and Alita and I exchanged worried glances before following.   
Once reaching the master bedroom, Alita and I stayed behind while the royal family and Calbren huddled around the large bed with dark silken sheets. Laying there was the king, looking mighty feeble indeed. He seemed to struggle breathing, his dark hair and beard a mess from sweat and thrashing. I almost felt the pain as he winced with every movement his body made.  
"Papa..." Asuka cooed, pouting as she sat on the bed next to her father. She wore her night gown, for she had been earlier sent to sleep, but apparently the cries of her father awoke her. The little hand pushed some of the elder man's hair from his face. King Ikari gave a weak smile, barely able to open his eyes to look at his young daughter.  
As the royal family continued watching their pained father (Ookami holding his hand tightly, on the verge of tears), Alita leaned over towards me. "Does your crystal have any of the healing properties that the Silver Crystal had...?" she asked in a whisper so no one else could hear. I nodded solemnly and unclipped the locket, handing her the sash before it fell. I moved to the end of the bed and opened the golden locket, seeing the golf ball sized orb. A sphere of perfect glass.   
I turned to the Queen, her eyes watching me with some kind of hope. "May I?" I asked, motioning towards the lying king with my locket. The queen, understanding my intensions, nodded, and I lifted the crystal from the locket, feeling it's powers begin to radiate from both it and me.  
Ookami watched, slightly horrified as she held her father's hand. "What are you doing...!?" she asked in a frantic whisper.  
"I'm going to ease the pain... My crystal isn't as strong as the Silver Imperium Crystal... But it will allow him to sleep without suffering..." With that I tossed the locket back to Alita, and let the Earth Crystal float above my hand. Blue and green lights began alternately pulsing from the crystal, filling the room with strange colors.   
The King's breathing slowed to a normal state and he smiled, glad to have a moment of peace. The glow slowly died away from the crystal and it fell back into my hands.   
"Sailor Earth...?" Ikari asked with a raspy voice.   
"I am here..."  
"You are... Tanaka's daughter... Are you not?" he asked. I shivered at the mention of my father's name.   
"Yes, I am..." I said, bowing. "At your service, King Ikari of Uranus..."  
"Your father... was a good friend of mine..." he said, smiling, eyes open slightly as I raised to a straight position once more. "Thank you... For helping me..." I smiled, nodding.  
"My pleasure..."  
"Papa..." Ookami's voice said weakly. The father smiled and turned stiffly to face his daughter, squeezing her hand tightly.   
"She has come to train you, hasn't she Ookami?" he asked. Ookami's gaze turned to me, and swiftly back to her father.  
"Yes Papa..."  
"Go with her... and... make me proud..." Every sentence seemed more straining for him, the welcoming embrace of sleep he hadn't gotten in a long time was strong. Ookami let a tear fall from her eye.  
"But papa! I want to stay with you! Till you get better!" she pleaded. The King Ikari gave a hoarse laugh that ended with a worse cough.   
"Don't worry, my daughter..." he said, brushing some hair from her face. "I'll be here waiting for your return..." He paused, taking a breath. "I know you'll make me proud..." With that he turned back to me. "Take care of my eldest daughter..."  
I nodded. "I shall..."  
"Now... Let me sleep a while..."  
And sleep he did...  
So the Princess Ookami had joined my ship as a member, to be officially entered the next morning. Leaving the king to rest, the royal family, Alita and I returned to the ball to enjoy what time we had left. The rest of the evening was uneventful...  
No wait... I take it back...  
Shinji kissed Alita and she slapped him.  
I began laughing.  
So hard in fact I accidentally knocked into one of the waiters.  
And he proceeded to fall, spilling the wine on his tray.  
Right onto Ookami's favorite tube top...  
Grudge number two...  
  
~Gennom's Computer Bank: Crew Members~  
Name: Ookami Angelist  
Age: 14  
Senshi: Uranus  
Appearance: 5'3"-meduim gray/blue hair-red eyes  
Other Distinguishing Features: none  
Background: Ookami is the second child of Ikari and Rei Angelist, first daughter born. She has an older brother named Shinji, and a younger sister named Asuka. The girl is good with common sense and can have a devious little mind when needed. Enjoys playing childish pranks on the other crew members, along with dirt biking and annoying people... 


	6. Part 2 5: Between Uranus and Saturn

Authors Note: *hums along to the english version of Just Communication* Alright! I don't own Sailor Moon (even though Sailor Moon's not in it) or any of the origional senshi (namely pluto who doesn't even appear in this part, but I gots to say it anyway) and yadda yadda yadda... I have FINALLY finished this part and ff.net is FINALLY up again!!! *cheers* tee hee... so enjoy the story as it continues onward!!! *goes back to numbing her pained hand* ouchies... stupid light bulb...  
  
Between Uranus and Saturn  
  
"Gennom! Start the system check, all systems excluding Mini Wings and Earth Rider. Main check points: main computer, course settings, and engine starters."  
~Right away Raina... Beginning system check...~ Gennom's voice replied. ~Would you like access to the wire system?~  
I smiled, standing in the main hallway of the Earth's Wings dressed in blue jeans, sneakers, and an old t-shirt that read 'Earth's Wings Mechanic'. "I always do, Gennom..." I replied, shifting the tool box from one hand to the other. A tile from the ceiling slid away at my command and the floor tiles elevated upwards, creating a stoop.  
A small wire and hook came down from the hole in the ceiling and I attached the tool box to it, stepping up onto the stoop. As the tool box raised, I took a firm hold on the edges of the hole in the ceiling and pulled myself up into a cramped, dark area filled with wires and switches. I took the tool box and set it in an unoccupied area, opening it and flicking on the light on the lid of the box.   
I took out a small flashlight for more light and looked around for the problem I was searching forward.   
~Was there something in particular you were looking for, Raina?~ Gennom asked, his voice pattern screen tipping up from outside the hole.   
"Yeah... there was a jolt when we took off from Uranus," I replied, eyes closing inspecting all around me. "I was wondering if there was a problem with anything dealing with the start ups... Find anything?"  
~Indeed I have. There's a wire loose in the engine start system.~  
"All right..." A pause. "Where would that be?"  
~The area above the entrance to the wire system.~ I could swear he was laughing... But I ignored it and followed his instructions, shifting and looking up at the mess of wires. My fingers that were not busy holding up the flashlight traced over them.   
"Which one...?" I asked.  
~The blue one on the right...~  
"My right or yours?"  
~I technically don't have a right...~  
"...Good point..."  
I moved my hand to the left and found the given blue wire, giving it a gentle pull. "Yup... that's the one..." I said, reaching back to the tool box and finding a wrench. I placed it around the bolt and quickly began tightening it, pushing the wire in with the extra fingers holding the flashlight.   
"RAINA!"  
I jumped out of my skin and dropped the wrench. "Look out!" I yelled, but already I knew it was much to late. The wrench fell down towards Alita...  
And fell right through her...  
Wide eyed, slack jawed me took a while to figure out what had just happened. The Alita blinked down at the wrench which was now in her foot, then looked up at me curiously. I gave a long, exasperated sigh and let my head slam against the edge of the entryway.   
"Holograms... she brought her holograms... even after I told her not to..."  
The Alita hologram smiled. "Oh don't worry! She only brought ten or so!" she replied.  
I groaned. "That's ten more than I need right now..." I murmured. After re-supplying my exhausted pride, I leaned my chin on my palm. "What was it that you needed, Alita... whatever...?"  
"Alita-six, thank you," she replied in a jovial way. "And Princess Alita was wondering if you had any idea where Ookami was...?"  
I shook my head. "Haven't seen her..." I muttered. Fact was, I hadn't seen her cause she'd been avoiding me...When she wasn't roaming around the ship, she locked herself in her room and refused to come out. I guess it didn't matter much, however was quite annoying when someone needed her.  
"Well if you see her, could you and the Princess Ookami please go to Alita's room? She needs your assistance with something..." the hologram requested. I nodded.  
"Once I fix this hunk of junk-"  
Gennom gave a small snort of protest.  
"-I'll go find Ookami..."  
"I thank you Raina!" she replied, then went on her merry way. Once she had left, I looked down through the opening at the wrench.  
"Hey Gennom, could you get that for me?"  
~Are your legs broken...?~  
"...No..."  
~Then you can get it for yourself...~  
I gave an irritated sigh. "This is about the 'hunk of junk' remark... isn't it...?" I asked, resting my chin on one palm again.  
~Indeed it is... I do not like being referred to as junk... I'm a sophisticated, thinking, speaking machine... Such terms are insulting to me...~ was his reply.   
"It was a term of speech!"  
~And I was insulted by it...~  
"...Gennom... get the wrench..."  
~No...~  
With another sigh, I took a hold of the entrance hole with both hands and swung my legs down onto the steps. I would've landed on them perfectly if Gennom hadn't lowered them while I fell. The result, I lost my balance and fell to the ground.   
Groaning, I watched as the entrance to the wire system was shut.  
"...Great... Now I've got both a princess and my ship mad at me..."  
~That's your own fault, Raina...~  
"Shut up..."  
I grumbled curses to myself and stood up, grabbing the wrench of the floor and shoving it into my pocket. I looked up at the monitor with Gennom's voice screen to see he had changed it to a smiley face with the words 'Have a nice day!' underneath. I glared at the monitor as it zoomed off towards the cockpit.   
"Problems?"  
I turned to see the young Ookami, standing at opposite end of the hallway. She has one nasty smirk on her lips that made me want to hit her real hard, but I refrained.  
"No, there's no problem..." I snapped in reply, still grumbling. I began to walk past her when I remembered something. "Oh, almost forgot. Alita wants you and me to go help her with something... Come on..."  
She groaned. "Why? What does she need?"   
I shrugged.  
Another groan and Ookami reluctantly followed.  
Upon reaching Neptune's door, I knocked harshly three times. Alita's voice floated through the wood and metal, "Come in!" With that I twisted the knob and swung the door open and Ookami and I took a single step in. I was about to walk further when Alita motioned me to stop.  
"No wait! Stay right there for a sec!" she said, holding a clip board and frantically checking it. As she did so, I heard some small, almost unnoticeable noises. I figured it was just my imagination. But Ookami noticed it as well, and questioned about it.  
"Raina...? Alita...? What's that noise...?"   
Something clicked in my mind and two words floated to my mind. But it was already too late....  
Two whip cream pies were flung and slammed into Ookami and mine's faces...  
The two words: Prankster Princess...  
The aluminum pan slid from my face, smearing my shirt with the white substance, before falling to the ground. I took a single hand and whipped my eyes clean, seeing Ookami pulling the aluminum pan off of her own face from the corner of my eye. Both of us glared at Alita.  
She smiled and turned back to the clip board. "Security system for room... Check!" With that she smiled, set the clip board down and started on her way out of the room, Ookami and I saying nothing and moving away for her, then continuing to glare at her.  
When in the hallway, Alita turned to us again. "I'm going to go take a shower..." she said, smiling widely. "You two should really take a shower as well... you look filthy!" A mocking smile before she began down the hall.  
Three more words arose to my mind...  
Kill kill kill...  
Ookami grabbed my arm, stopping my progression to destroy the prank player. Alita had already exited the hall and on her way to the bathroom in the next hall, giggling and humming as she went. I turned and glared at Ookami, her face smeared with whip cream as well.   
"What do you think you're doing?!" I asked, enraged. The Uranus Princess only shook her head really slowly. Curiously, I tilted my head.   
"I'm a step ahead of you, Raina..." Ookami replied, then looked down at her watch and counted the seconds.  
"Five... Four... Three... Two... One..."  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOORMS!!!!! SNAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIILS!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!"  
Ookami and I exchanged 'hi-fives'.  
  
Authors note: *laughs madly* *stops* *coughs* ....well... review please!!!  
~Lordess  



	7. Part 2 6: Saturn

Author's Note: *laughs in that evil maniaclly defiant way of hers* HAHA! I FINALLY FINISHED SATURN!!! It took me forever and a day, but what can I say? I've been busy!!! Lotsa schoolwork... *sigh* Anyway... here's the next part of Sailor Senshi Next Generation! Do enjoy!!! And yeah, don't own Sailor Pluto (who yet again isn't in this part...) and yeah... ^.^  
~Lordess  
  
Saturn  
  
The planet of death some call it... But it is better known as the planet of the ice desert... The entire surface of Saturn is an ice sculpture in the making, though none of it is ice, but of pure crystal... Mile after mile of this glass-like surface not found on any other planet of the milky way.   
Saturn, though huge in size, is not very populated and life is rare. Half of the reason is the ice rings that orbit around it making access to the planet harder. The other half of the reason is based solely on myth and legends however...   
They say that Sailor Saturn was the Senshi of Death, and therefore the planet Saturn was created from the same evil base and all those who travel there are cursed...  
Though usually people don't believe it...  
Me included...  
Though I must say... I was kind of freaked out when I saw the palace...  
Black metal that spiraled upwards towards the dark purple skies... Metal that seemed to cry and wrench in pain, though sparkled under the light of the shaded sun. It appeared to be some dark palace where demons lived and worked... Except for one attribute...  
Well actually three... Three crystal pillars standing in the center of the palace, reaching up higher than the actual palace columns themselves. They were lined with gold and the center one seemed to hold a tiara with a deep violet, almost black, gem.  
And I stared at those three pillars that stood in the center of the black palace as the trio trudged onwards over the smooth surface of ice desert...  
We had passed the front gates about an hour ago and STILL were miles away from the castle. As I had found out (obviously Alita and Ookami just now finding out as well), those who could not contact the Palace members ahead of time could not park their damn spaceship (which was STILL mad at me) in the palace docking areas... This means I had to park outside the palace walls and had to clearance from the front gate, showing ID's and everything... And then came a VERY long walk...  
All castles have courtyards, I'll agree with that... And I'll also agree with the fact that most of them are quite large and extravagant... But this.... This was ridiculous! There was nothing in the courtyard! Just black metal poles about five feet high with little gems on the top to keep you on the right path. And it wasn't just a tiny walk like this... this continued onwards for miles! I mean, I couldn't even define the base of the castle we were that far from it!  
Thus there was a whole lot of complaining... Namely from the Princess Ookami.  
"Damn Raina... Why couldn't you have just gotten a hold of the Captain on the Guards so we could have parked right next to the palace?!" the youngest senshi present muttered with a curse to go with it.   
"I tried!" I snapped back.  
"Oh really?" Ookami raised an eyebrow curiously, stopping her walking. "Then why is it that we are walking mile after mile in this ice desert?!"   
Alita and I came to a halt. "Why?" I asked. Alita proceeded to calmly take a step back as I stormed up to the girl. I pointed directly upwards. "You see those?"  
Ookami looked up to see the faint change of color that lined the sky. "It's the ice rings..." she replied and I nodded. "So? What do those have to do with it?"  
"Simple..." Alita interfered. "Any place that the ice rings cross will be put into a dead zone... the meteors cause much interference, thus communication is impossible... It only however, lasts a few hours before the ice rings move over another part and the process begins over again..."  
I crossed my arms angrily. "See? So you can stop blaming this all on me! The palace went into the dead zone minutes before we arrived..."  
Ookami still wasn't impressed. "Why couldn't we have waited until the dead zone passed?"  
"For two reasons..." I began. "It's too dangerous to be in orbit with the ice rings... and... Gennom..." My voice trailed off, not wanting to finish.  
"Gennom... what?"   
"...dumped half of the remaining fuel so we HAD to land..."  
Silence.  
Ookami started fuming in this silence, trying to stay calm. "And... WHY... did he dump... the fuel..."  
"Well he claimed it was to make room for the tuna... but he did it just because he was mad at me..."  
Ookami screamed a scream of pure rage and I was quite surprised the crystal beneath our feet didn't crack. The princess stopped her screaming, pulled her pigtails outwards only for a second, before turning back to me. "If one more disaster happens on this trip, I'm going to rip my hair off!"  
"I'll make sure you keep to your word..." I muttered before beginning the walk again. "Now lets get going so we don't take all ni-IIIIIAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"  
What cut me off unexpectedly was the fact that the ground beneath my feet suddenly decided to disappear. And as I fell, bumping along some sort of tubing a small thought clicked through my mind... Kyle had warned me that the courtyard of Saturn had booby-traps...  
...Looks like I had found one of them...  
About half way down the long tunnel I finally stopped my screaming, now concentrating more on finding something to hold onto as my tilted decent continued. This tube however, was nothing but slim walls. My finger tips would occasionally hit the separation of slates, but they were melded together so well and my fall so fast, I was unable to grip them.  
My decent did come to a stop though...  
Namely around the time I ran out of tubing and fell to the harsh flat floor...   
Landing at a tilt, I rolled several times before finally coming to a rest on my back, eyes closed at the pain that stung in my legs. I was out of breath from screaming and having the wind knocked out of me when the sudden stop hit.  
As the pain dimmed and my breath returned to normal, I quickly sat upright. That was a mistake in itself for there was a sudden blood rush causing me to hold my head. How odd that I had landed on a tilt...  
I opened my eyes to the dim lighting...  
Behind me I could see a silver outline of the tube I had plummeted through. All that surrounded me was made of black crystal with the occasional lantern hanging from a side wall, the flames lit and dancing across the dark jewel walls. I was in a hallway of some sort, tilting at an upwards angle which explained the head rush.  
Grumbling, I stood to my feet, having to use both the floor, the wall, and my own knee to help. 'That's three out of three planets I've had problems on...' my mind thought in a griping tone. And it was around then that I saw her...  
My body froze...  
  
"My GOD this isn't good! What the hell are we supposed to do now?!" Ookami had taken this opportunity to increase her grumbles to hysterical screams. Alita had decided, for the moment, to ignore them, kneeling on the glass like surface, fingers tracing the outline of the sliding piece of crystal that Raina had so conveniently stepped on.   
"How interesting..."  
The blue haired girl could have killed the other with mere looks alone as she turned back to the Neptune Princess. "Interesting..." she repeated, tension clear in her voice. "Interesting... Our 'almighty' leader has disappeared and you find it interesting! Someone hand me a knife!"  
Alita did not look up at the girl, only continued studying the tracings of the square. "It seems Raina found a part of one of Saturn's highly acclaimed security systems..." The red head gave a pleasant smile. "How comical!"  
"Comical...?" Ookami couldn't believe this princess... "We're stuck alone in the middle of nowhere... and you find it comical!" The Princess of Uranus had the urge to do exactly what Raina did once she discovered who Ookami was... Namely find a wall and start banging her head against it... Or maybe start banging Alita's head against it...  
Now the red haired princess turned up to face her younger 'teammate'. "Yes! Quite comical indeed!" she replied, jovially. "Don't worry! She'll be fine!"  
"And how do you figure this?!"  
"Because from what I heard, these traps eventually lead you to the dungeon...."  
Silence...  
Ookami finally threw her hands up in the air, her eyes following in suit. "And she finds this a good thing..."  
  
She just stood there, half covered in darkness, not moving, not giving the faintest indication that she was even living. Her skin was pale, nearly sheet white as if it had not seen the sun in days. Her tresses were blonde, and exceedingly long, stretching all the way to her knees as she stood erect. The thin locks curled ever so slightly at the ends. And her eyes... I had never seen such eyes... They were cold, almost as icy as the crystal mountains on the surface, but at the same time as blue as the skies of Uranus.  
I just stared at her emotionless face, to shocked and afraid to do much else. I watched her as if I were watching a silently ticking bomb that was about to go off.   
This girl was intimidating...   
I was glad when she gave a swift turn away from me and ran back into the darkness. I closed my eyes for what seemed like the first time in a few minutes, exhaling the breath I had been holding. With the blue eyed one gone, I was brought back to the current problem at hand...  
...Oh damn...  
She went down the only exit...  
That means I had to follow her...  
"...crap..."  
  
"You know," started Alita as she heaved herself into an upright position. "We could take this as a good thing..." Ookami had calmed down only a little, though as she spoke her voice came out strained and going slightly higher than her normal tone.  
"Alita!" This almost came out as a whine. "We're stuck in the middle of nowhere! How can we take this as a good thing?!"  
The elder crossed her arms and smiled in a prideful sort of way. "Well knowing Raina she'll be quite freaked out and want to skip this planet till later, more than likely she'll want to leave this planet as soon as possible..."   
Ookami was officially lost by now...  
"I haven't been looking forward to meeting the eldest Princess of Saturn... And that's not because she's the senshi of death either..." Alita gave a look of thoughtfulness, raising a finger up to her mouth as if lapsing into light concentration.  
"Why not?" the younger inquired.  
Alita's gaze turned back down to the other princess. "You mean you haven't heard about her...?" Now Ookami was even more lost... "You know... her little... problem...."  
Now Ookami got it...  
"You mean that little rumor that said that the Princess of Saturn spent time in a mental hospital...?" she asked.  
Alita nodded.  
"And that they didn't help her at all?" Ookami continued.  
Another nod.  
"And that went on to say that she's still a raving lunatic and goes through sever mood swings?"  
A third nod.  
Ookami groaned. "I don't want to be here anymore..."  
  
My entire body was stiff. It seemed every little noise made me jump... And every noise I heard was made by myself too... The blonde haired girl had definitely freaked me out... And that wasn't the worst part...  
The worst part was I was lost...  
I had entered an area where there was no lighting at all, so I had taken on of the torches from the wall to successfully continue through the area. The crystalline walls reflected the firelight and it seemed to make me even more edgy, my mind thinking they saw things that weren't there.  
I gave a long sigh after a rather frightful scare of my own reflection and entered a large, circular room that led to many hallways. I frowned, contemplating which of the identical pathways to choose. My eyes, however, fixed upon something other than the halls...  
In the center of this circle room was a pillar of crystal. It's sides were smooth, unlike the jagged walls of the hallways and perfectly cylinder. But it was what was inside that sparked my interest...  
I held up the torch to get a better look.  
My eyes slowly widened.   
"The Silence Glave...." I whispered.  
There was a step taken behind me and I swung around to greet whoever it was. My eyes stayed determined only for a moment before widening again as I was confronted with the blonde haired girl with icy blue eyes. Though she stood about five feet away, I could feel a presence around her, and while looking into her eyes that feeling only intensified.  
This girl felt of death...  
I dropped the torch and the fire went out.  
The darkness, however, was short lived as five new torches flared to life around me, being held by five men in dark armor. I blinked, eyes searching for the girl with the presence of death and was half relieved to find that she had disappeared.   
"Something the matter, gentlemen?" I asked, feeling my confidence regain itself, letting a small smile creep onto my face.  
"You are trespassing on Royal Ground!" the one in front of me said with a harsh tone. I was about to reply when he cut me off. "With the authority of position of Chief of Guard, I hereby place you under arrest!"  
My smile quickly dissipated after my confidence ran away...  
  
Ookami groaned again. "Quick! Let's get back to the ship and wait for Raina there! I'm sure she can work everything out on her own!" she said, her voice going into high pitches again. Alita gave a long sigh.  
"As much as I'd like to agree with you, we can't..." the red haired princess concluded.  
"And just why not?!"  
"Because it would be abandoning our positions as Sailor Senshi..." Alita explained, turning to face the younger princess. "It would be disgraceful to leave our esteemed leader behind... Besides... She'll have a fit about it later..."  
Ookami paused. "So what do you plan to do?!"   
"We must go to the castle..."  
Another groan escaped the blue haired princess' lips.  
  
"This is HIGHLY intolerable! How COULD you do such a thing?! I'm RAINA SAVERSE INVAN! THE SENSHI OF EARTH!!! How DARE you lock me up in a commoner's cell like a common criminal!? I'm here to collect the senshi of the next generation to save Earth! HONESTLY! WHY WON'T YOU PEOPLE BELIEVE ME!?"   
I breathed heavily after my third set of yells and screams from behind the row of steal bars. My hands gripped two of them so tightly my knuckles had started turning from their normal pale color to a pure white. The two guards assigned to watch my cell just watched me from their seats with clueless curiosity.  
They had taken away my sword... AND my locket... and even my leather jacket to search for hidden weapons! It wasn't MY fault I had accidentally fallen into one of the traps in the courtyard and found the holding place of the Silence Glave! It wasn't like I was going to steal it or anything!  
I grumbled a long line of curses. "If the Lady Pluto finds out that I've been imprisoned, she's going to have a CONNIPTION!"  
Dumb guard number one nudged dumb guard number two in the side. "Aye, mate?" he asked with a deep Australian accent. The second guard, much skinnier than the first, looked up.  
"Yessum?"  
"Hate ta bug ya but... What's a 'conniption'...?"  
I slammed my head against the bars. 'Isn't this great...' my mind thought, curtly. 'You're stuck with the Australian version of Dumb and Dumber...' I lifted my head a few inches away and hit it against the metal a few more times before groaning and moving slowly back to the far wall, slumping down into a sitting position on the floor. "Where are Alita and Ookami when you need them...?!" I asked, barely above a whisper.  
The entrance to the dungeon swung open with a harsh slam and the man whom I recognized as the Chief of Guard came walking down, holding my belongings in one hand. At first he didn't look at me and turned to Dumb and Dumber who had straightened up into a standing position as soon as he had entered.   
"Sir!" the two guards said in unison as they saluted their commander.   
"Unlock the cell," the chief said gruffly and the two scrambled, nearly knocking each other over, to grab the keys and unlock the iron gate that held me prisoner.   
I blinked curiously as the two successfully (clumsily, but successfully) unlocked the gate and swung it open. I rose almost stiffly to my feet, a frown set upon my features. The Chief of Guard walked calmly in and gently handed my belongings to me. Upon my taking them, he fell slowly into a bow on one knee.  
"Forgive me Senshi of Earth... Troubled times are upon us and we are in great danger when the Dead Zone passes over us and must be extra cautious..."   
I gave an aggravated sigh and went through the process of attaching my sword to my belt, swinging my jacket with the cut shoulders on, and shoving the golden locket into my pocket. "I understand..." I replied. "We are all uneasy with the problems at hand..."  
The Chief stood up once more. "The King wishes to meet with you and give you his sincerest apologies personally..." he explained, beginning out of the prison. "Please, follow me..." I nodded and did as he asked, following him up the spiral stairway and through a darkly painted wooden door.  
Upon walking into the main hallway, I felt a sudden gloom fall upon me. The entire hallway was black as pitch with purple tapestries and a long purple rug in the center of the ebony marble floor. The dungeon was more cheerful than the palace was... Wasn't that odd...?  
The Chief spoke not a word as he started down the main hallway. I followed, quiet as well, too annoyed to do much talking at the moment. My eyes scanned the walls, seeing paintings of the Senshi of Saturn. Though these paintings were well done and were an astonishing resemblance to the Sailor Saturn I met, they were dark, dismal, and frightening too...  
Too engrossed in the dreary (yet oddly siren) decorations of the palace walls, I forgot to acknowledge the fact that the Chief of Guard was walking directly in front of me. Thus, when he stopped, I ran into him. Course, being the broad man he was, it was I who felt the sharp pain on the entire front side of my body as I bounced back. He gave a small, cold glare over his shoulder to me.  
"Sorry..." I muttered. I rubbed my shoulder harshly for it had been slammed into one of his armor plates. I followed the Chief's almost vindictive gaze with a small hope that something cheerful would grant me the pleasure of happiness. No such luck however, as my eyes fell upon the King of Saturn. The man, though young, had a certain old age about him as he sat upon the black marble throne. He was quite thin and his eyes, the same cold blue eyes of the girl I'd met before, seemed almost a mere slit. His lips were curved in an almost devious smirk as shoulder length purple hair tickled his chin.   
Something bothered me about him...  
Disregarding my first impression, I straightened my posture and walked proudly up the purple carpet, stopping at a good distance and giving a deep bow. "Your majesty," I started. "I am Raina Saverse Invan, commander of the Earth's Wings."  
"So I have heard," the King said in a voice that defied the frailness of his body (except for the almost sassy tone he held in it). "I apologize for the mistake in your identity. I am King Xel Metallus Creed. I humbly welcome you to my castle."  
"Your welcome is much appreciated," I replied. "I have come to discuss the collection of the Senshi with you."  
"I have heard that as well..." The smirk grew in the slightest. "The Lady Setsuna asked me to allow my daughter to be trained as one of the Sailor Senshi..."  
"Have you made your decision...?"  
"I consent..."  
A small smile graced my features. "Glad to hear it King Xel." I gave another bow to show my respect. The King seemed delighted by it and his smirk grew even more. He rose from his throne and motioned towards a side hallway, lit only by a single candle.  
"May I introduce you to my daughter," he said with a prideful tone. "Akutenshi Shabrin Creed, eldest heir to the throne of Saturn..."  
I held my breath for a moment as a figure stirred in the darkness and moved forward. The tall, skinny (yet sturdy looking) female took a few steps from the dark hall and met my gaze.   
I almost dropped dead where I stood.  
The eldest daughter of Saturn was the girl in the glass hallways...  
Silence filled the room...  
"RAINA!!!"  
I was suddenly thankful Ookami had a large mouth. I turned around, looking into the dark hallway I had entered through to see the two other members of my crew, Alita and Ookami, jogging up to greet me. They stopped by my side, apparently out of breath.  
"Raina! You idiot!" Ookami muttered under her breath, sending death glares at me. I sent one straight back. "How could you fall into a trap like that?"  
"Oh hush..." I muttered under my breath.   
"And who might these two delightful young ladies be?"  
I jumped at the sudden voice right next to me. I blinked at the King who somehow had made his way to my side without my noticing. I watched him warily before replying. "It is my pleasure to introduce the two princesses I have met thus far..." I waved a hand at them respectively. "Princess Alita from Neptune and Princess Ookami from Uranus.   
King Xel gave an awkward smile. "Ah! I haven't seen you both in a long time!" he said with an almost giddy tone. "I'm delighted to have the chance to see you once again!" The purple haired king dipped into a low bow. The two princesses followed in suite, giving their own curtseys.   
"Your highness," I started, drawing the Kings attention to me. I gave a quick glance to the senshi of Saturn who stood motionless before continuing. "What of the Saturn Crystal? Do you know of it's whereabouts?"  
The King raised a finger to his lip in thought. "Ah yes... the crystal... Akutenshi dear..." he said, tilting his head towards his daughter. She looked up without expression. "Do you know where I placed it?" The daughter did not reply and the King turned to me again. "I do believe I left it in one of the safes of the palace..."  
I gave a smile and nodded. "It would be wise to retrieve it... Akutenshi will need it to allow her passage into her room on the Earth's Wings and to transform..."   
"Oh... that is a problem..."  
I tilted my head. "Why?"  
"Because all the safes are in the chasm behind the castle..."  
I felt like toppling over at that moment. "..."  
"None of the servants are allowed down there..." The king continued. "I do believe it is necessary for you and your comrades to go get it yourselves..."   
I groaned. It was planet Neptune all over again...! I gave a deep frown. "I went though this already trying to get Neptune's crystal and nearly got shot full of arrows..." I grumbled, then turned to Alita and Ookami. "Alright Senshi! You can go get it!"  
Simultaneous groans from the two princesses. "Why us?"  
"Think of it as training!"  
Alita and Ookami groaned again.  
The King gave a small titter.  
Akutenshi remained emotionless.  
  
Nearly an hour later, King Xel, Princess Akutenshi and I stood at the top of a huge ravine looking down into a seemingly bottomless cavern of pure crystal. Ookami and Alita were strapped to safety harnesses and were making a slow descent towards the safes that seemed half a mile away.   
"I can't believe we're being forced into this!" Ookami muttered to herself, gripping the crystal walls so tightly her knuckles were turning white. Alita was much the same, shivering every now and then as a cold gust of wind swept past them.   
"I agree... it's quite inhumane..." the Princess of Neptune mused as she took another step downwards. She paused momentarily to make sure the harness was on right before taking another step. "I fail to see how this is 'training'... What's the likelihood that we're going to have to do climb down chasms?"  
I gave a smirk as I heard this conversation echo off the crystal walls and make it's way towards me. "Be prepared for anything!" I shouted in reply, answered by two familiar groans. The two exchanged some more idle talk as they descended. My gaze turned to the blonde haired Princess who had said not a word. Her gaze watched the two other princesses, her eyes seemingly refusing to blink.   
She was freaky... And what bothered me the most was a marking on her left wrist... A scar...  
I gave an unheard gulp and turned my gaze to the King, who was proudly smiling as he watched the two. "This is quite entertaining..." he mused aloud.   
"Why do you say that?"  
"Well if they're grumbling this much going down to the safes..." He pulled an item from his pocket and tossed it to himself once before handing it to me. "Then how are they going to react when they find out I had the crystal all along?"  
My eyes grew quite wide as I looked down at the deep purple crystal in the shape of the symbol of Saturn. I turned back to the purple haired King. "...You're jesting... right...?"   
He didn't reply, only continued to smile that mischevious smile of his.   
"...This isn't the crystal... right? Alita and Ookami are going to go get the real one... right?"  
That smile never left his face.  
"...Oh God... They're going to kill me when they find out..."  
"Aha!" Ookami's voice floated up. "Found the safes!"  
"How odd that they would be built inside the crystal walls..." Alita mused and I could hear the clicks as she began unlocking the safe she had been told to open.   
"Don't ponder how odd it is! Just get the crystal so we can go back up! I hate heights!"  
"...Alright hold on..."  
A few more clicks and the door to the safe was opened. It sounded like a door that would lead me to my death... The screams of danger flitered upwards and filled my head.  
"WHAT THE-?! RAINA!!! THE SAFE IS EMPTY!!!"  
And that was the start of grudge number three...  
  
~Gennom's Computer Bank: Crew Members~  
Name: Akutenshi Shabrin Creed  
Age: 16  
Senshi: Saturn  
Appearance: 5'6"-long blonde hair-ice blue eyes  
Other Distinguishing Features: crooked scar on left wrist  
Background: Many rumors have been passed around about Akutenshi; being locked up in an asylum being one of them. She has one younger sister who is rarely to never seen but goes by the name of Cephedia. Not much else is known, but according to her father, King Xel Metallum Creed, she has a tendency to go through rapid mood swings.   
  
Author's note: not as good as I wanted it to be... but hey... nothing I do ever is... Hope you enjoyed and don't forget to review! BTW... thanks to all of those who have reviewed!! ^.^ It makes me feel so loved! 


	8. Part 2 7 Between Saturn and Jupiter

Author's Notes: HI HI!!! Next chapter is complete! Took me a while cause my computer went screwy on me... ^__^ but all is well again and Raina's adventures continue! Man I want to get done with this second part... I have SOOO many ideas for the third... but I must be patient, ne?  
Well read and review, I hope you enjoy!!!  
~Lordess  
  
Between Saturn and Jupiter  
  
"You are the most INSENSITIVE, DESTRUCTIVE, EVIL, MANIACAL, BOSSY-"  
"..."  
"IMMORAL, UNJUST, and UNFAIR woman that I have EVER met!"  
"...Glad to hear that Ookami... Your cruel remarks are appreciated and well noted... I'll be sure to remember them when the training sessions begin..."  
Ookami gave a low growl in my direction, her eyes shooting daggers my way. I just smiled through it, continuing to type on the given keyboard in the cockpit. I sat in the pilot's chair, conveniently blocking nearly anything and everything from my mind that the blue haired princess was raving about at the entrance of the room.  
Course... I kept a small portion of it for later...  
"Ookami? Think you could make yourself useful?" I asked as I continued to type. The young princess gave a disapproving huff, but I continued anyway. "Go find Akutenshi and ask her to come here."  
From the sigh I figured the blue haired princess had rolled her eyes deeply. "Why would I go get her?"   
"Because something happened to Gennom's Computer Bank and Akutenshi's file got deleted," I answered.  
"How did that happen?"  
"I don't know, I'm looking over the memory files at the moment and-" I paused. "What the HELL is this?!"  
I looked at the small screen next to my miniature keyboard in disbelief. Ookami peered over my shoulder curiously, the edges of her pigtails skimming my shoulder as she did so. She frowned curiously and tilted her head as she gazed at the letters and numbers that really only made sense to me.  
"What?"  
"The configuration got changed!"  
"How is that possible?"  
"Someone changed it Einstein..."  
"Well excuse me! I don't know anything about computers and configur-what-cha-ma-call-its..."  
"Well then it must have been Alita or Akutenshi..."  
Ookami and I exchanged identical skeptical looks, eyebrow arched.   
"Alita..." we both concluded.  
I turned back to the large screen. "Hey Gennom! You there?" I asked, watching as the black screen flickered into it's rightful corner.  
~Aren't I always Raina?~ the voice asked. I chuckled.  
"Did you let the Princess Alita into the cockpit with out my permission?" I asked, tilting my head, waiting for the answer. A pause followed, the green line seemingly refusing to move.  
~That is classified information...~  
"Gennom...?"  
~Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees?~  
"Do you remember who your owner is?"  
~Why you are... What a silly question!~  
"And who gets to decide if you get torn apart or not?"  
~....yoooooooooou....~   
"Good good..." I said, nodding my head. "Mind telling me if you let Alita into the cockpit without my permission...?"  
~...Well... she... kind of had your permission...~  
I arched an eyebrow. "She either did or she didn't Gennom... which is it?" I asked impatiently. For a moment the voice was silent, as if contemplating the right words to say.  
~Well you see... Last night... while everyone was asleep she came for a visit...~ the computer explained. ~And you don't know how lonely it gets at night here in the cockpit! I mean I was bored out of my mind and-~  
"Gennom..."  
~Right... Well... I of course told her she wasn't allowed entrance... And then she started some fancy talk about being in the memory banks as a full fledged crew member of this ship and how it was only right that a full fledged crew member should be permitted access to the controls... She said it was a way of saying that you granted her full freedom of the ship...~  
I gave a pause of my own, taking in what the computer had told me. After this long, drawn out pause, I took a deep breath. "Gennom you idiot."  
~I'm sorry Raina! She just talked so fancy! And it all made sense and registered well and-and-and... SHE CONFUSED ME!!!~  
Ookami blinked. "Wow I didn't know computer could be so emotional..." she muttered under her breath. I heard the door to the cockpit slide open behind me. I could tell it was Alita by her mumbling. I didn't turn around at first, though did after I heard Ookami give a shriek, followed by one of Alita's.  
My shriek came next, quieter than the Princess'. There in the corner stood Akutenshi. How she got in, I couldn't begin to fathom. She stood there with quiet concentration, eyes locked on me in an eerie fashion. I gave a gulp, trying to relax my nerves and failing miserably. Something about the Princess of Saturn thoroughly bothered me.  
"W-well..." I stuttered. "Seems like everyone is here... That's good... I think..." I turned to the Princess of Neptune quickly, still feeling Akutenshi's gaze on me. "Um... Alita... Mind explaining to me what you did and why..."  
Alita turned to me and gave a forced smile. "Oh I was just updating some of your files... they were so out of date!"  
I grabbed the tall princess' wrist and pulled her down to eyelevel with me. "Why did you delete the you-know-what-file...?" I asked in a soft, irritated voice. Alita continued to force that smile of hers as she answered.  
"Because the subject of the you-know-what-file scares me and I was hoping to be rid of it..."  
I gave a small, forced laugh. "That's not possible..."  
"I can dream, can't I?"  
I let go of Alita's wrist, the skin around it white, like my knuckles were at the moment. She waved her hand in a hurt fashion before holding it with the other. Forcing a fresh smile into place, I turned back to the blonde haired one in the corner (who was still glaring at me).  
"I'm sorry Akutenshi. But Alita accidentally deleted your Member File while she was changing my computer... I'm going to have to make you a new one," I explained. Akutenshi didn't move, didn't even blink. I quickly turned to Alita. "And if I ever catch you touching my stuff again, you'll die a slow and painful death."  
Ookami chuckled.  
"That goes for you too Ookami..."  
"What?! What did I do?!"  
"You took my lotion from my room the other day... I'd like it back..."  
The princess of Uranus gave a groan, as a kid would when their parents scolded them. She gave a deep frown and crossed her arms angrily. I said nothing and turned to the keyboard yet again, beginning typing immediately.  
"Where are we going next...?"  
I froze. So did everyone else in the room.  
Akutenshi had spoken...! Her first words I had heard... Her voice had sounded surprisingly soft, though stern and deadly. Like a whisper of death that played on the tip of your ears right before the whisperer killed you. It sent a million and one shivers of discomfort up and down my spine. Wait... What did she ask again?  
"Jupiter," I answered simply after a pause. I arched my head towards Akutenshi. She turned and exited the cockpit and I could have sworn I saw a smirk of mischievous glee cross the emotionless face of hers. A million and one more shivers were sent up and down my spine. "W-wait a minute! I still need to make your new Crew Member file! COME BACK HERE!"  
  
Author's Notes: That was short... but review please! 


	9. Part 2 8: Jupiter

Author's Note: Geh, I've been really slacking off, especially in this story. Sumimasen! But I finally got this part done!! This introduces my personal favorite character, the new senshi of Jupiter. Maybe because I like the planey... ^.~ I like her trainer too... but anyway. My apologies again for taking so long to post in this story! I hope you enjoy this part!  
~Lordess  
  
Sailor Senshi Next Generation- Part 2.8: Jupiter  
  
The planet of the Jupiter, is not only the largest, but the most inhabited. It's like being on a tropical resort, or so says the brochures about it. Any water surface is like a marsh with large, exotic trees reaching up towards the slightly cloudy sky. The rest of the planet is covered by dense forests of all kinds. The only place were trees are more spread out is within the cities.   
  
But with the abundance of people, it's still a jungle. Going to and fro within the capital of the planet is like going through surgery without an anesthetic. And in the back of the city sat the palace of Jupiter, it's white marble standing out against the lush green forests behind it. Behind the castle, I knew, lay a garden, highly praised on the planet and more beautiful than any other. It was mostly wild beauty with little taming, giving everything a purely natural feel.  
  
I, however, was far away from the castle. Instead of being in the thrown room chatting with the king and queen, I was learning just how hard it was to roam the streets being dragged along by a certain pair of princesses with a craving for shopping...  
  
I stayed behind the two, suddenly thankful we had separated from the main road and entered one of the clearer ones lined with small shops. Behind me, Akutenshi followed, her silence returning and seemingly disgracing the noise with it's purity. Ookami and Alita both darted in different directions, looking at all the store windows eagerly. Many small remarks were overheard like 'Oooh... Shinny...' and 'Oh my! How lovely!'  
  
Having no interest in shopping, I fiddled with the golden locket in my pocket, reminding myself why I was here. I closed my eyes and leaned against one of the walls, letting myself sink into concentration.   
  
"RAINA!!!"  
  
As quickly as I had sunk into that state of meditation, I was abruptly brought out of it by Ookami's shrill voice as she screamed right next to my ear. I fell over. "God damnit!" I whispered under my breath as I stood, holding one ear painfully and glaring at her menacingly. "What'd you do that for?!"  
  
Uranus' princess gave an innocent smile. "Because you were asleep..."  
  
"No I wa- ...What do you want...?"   
  
The glare deepened and her sweet expression grew.  
  
"Well," she said, putting on her best pout-I-want-something-and-I'm-gonna-get-it-face and turned her eyes into big, wobbly water orbs. "You know how you owe me a new shirt...?"  
  
"...What of it...?"  
  
The smile returned, wobbly eyes still in place.   
  
"I found the absolute perfect replacement for it! All I need is the money!"  
  
I gave one of those long, exasperated sighs, eyes turning upward. Quietly I deliberated whether or not to argue the point that it wasn't really my fault like I had done so many times previous. But if I did that, she'd stop talking to me...  
  
Buy her the shirt...  
  
Have her stop talking to me...  
  
Buy her the shirt...  
  
Have her stop talking to me...  
  
Shirt...  
  
No talking...  
  
Shirt...  
  
No talking...  
  
...  
  
Defeated, I extracted the wallet from my back pocket and Ookami gave a victorious smile in return. I pulled out a reasonable amount of money and held it out to her. Ookami blinked, frowning curiously at the money before reaching past and grabbing the wallet, extracting the rest of the dollar bills before placing it back in my hand and leaving before I could protest.   
  
My closed my open mouth and let a few grumbles escape my lips. Alita, who had walked up during my deliberation, blinked curiously at me before letting her own little smile come onto her face. I looked at her, frowning deeply. Her smile widened.  
  
Again, defeated, I handed her the rest of the money which she happily took from me before leaving as well.  
  
More complaints exited my scowling lips. I returned the now empty wallet back to my pocket, fidgeting a little before crossing my arms across my chest. That left me standing alone, waiting for someone to return.  
  
A hand landed on my shoulder and a feeling of death crept along my skin along with a thousand and one shivers. I yelped at the coldness of the feminine hand and turned around, greeting the piercing blue eyes.  
  
"...Hi Akutenshi..." I mustered  
  
Damn... Forgot about her...  
  
She lowered her hand, her face expressionless as always. Her pale lips parted slowly as she spoke the second sentence that I would hear. Again, shocked and wide eyed, I missed what she said, but as I regained my senses, I still found no meaning in what she said.  
  
"I'm going to take my dog for a walk..."  
  
"What dog...?"  
  
She didn't answer me and turned her body stiffly, but smoothly around before walking away and down the street. I was left there blinking in utter confusion.   
  
'Alright... So you have a freakishly smart princess, a stubborn and spoiled princess, and a psychotic princess on your team...' I thought miserably, counting them off on my fingers. 'Well Raina... You're gonna die...'  
  
I forbid my mind from thinking for the next few moments.  
  
Now alone on the street (except for the few random shoppers looking in windows) I extracted the locket from the pocket of my blue leather jacket. It's golden surface sparkled under the gleaming sun, each crevice showing out greatly in the natural light. I gave a soft smile. Looking at the locket always made a smile cross my face.  
  
"Take that barf breath!"  
  
"Catch it if you can dork weed!"  
  
'Kids...' I thought as I gave an exasperated sigh. Two young boys sped past me, tossing a ball harshly between the two. They laughed and smiled with impish delight. I gave another sigh and walked forward, ignoring the loud shouts of the adolescents behind me.  
  
"HEY LADY! WATCH OUT!"  
  
...Heard that one...  
  
...Failed to comply...  
  
The ball (which was much harder than it looked) hit the center of my back. I drew in a sharp breath at the sudden jolt of pain that rushed from my spine, tingling my entire body. I barely managed to catch myself, my right foot shooting in front of me, stabilizing my fall. The two boys screeched to a stop next to me, one grabbing the ball as it bounced back.  
  
"You alright, Lady?" the red haired one asked, wrinkling his freckled nose in worry. The other held the heavy ball tightly in his hands, brown eyes wide in amazement.   
  
"I'm fine," I assured, standing upright once more, stretching my back enough to feel the spine cords pop back into place. The two boys exchanged glances.  
  
"You... sure you're all right?" the other asked, obviously a year younger than the first.  
  
"Yeah, why?"  
  
Another exchange of glances before the red head spoke. "I've never met a girl who was able to take a hit from a training ball! Especially a visitor!" I could tell by his wild eyes that he was in complete awe. I however, was leaning towards the confused side.  
  
"Training ball?" I repeated. The younger one tossed me the big ball and I caught it, nearly falling over from it's unexpected heavy weight. I quickly recovered from the shock and held it carefully. "What's it for?"  
  
"...training..."  
  
...Well that was a no duh...  
  
I distantly remembered that those of Jupiter always looked highly on those who trained and fought. It was a favored tradition for the male children to play rough to train themselves. Obviously this ball had been introduced as part of that training. Girls were never much a part of it. It wasn't sexist, just not how it was done.   
  
"Well keep up the training, kid," I said, smiling and tossing the ball back. The younger, appearing around nine, nearly toppled over, but managed to remain standing. The two beamed in reply before speeding off, beginning the chase once again.  
  
It was then I realized I was missing a rather important item. With this realization, my entire body went into shutdown mode, everything tuning out, searching for the distinct ring of contact against something.  
  
I had dropped my locket.  
  
A single ring echoed through my ears and I turned to it swiftly, following the sound into an alleyway. I looked around frantically, my entire body tensing at the thought of loosing such an object. That locket had been my mother's before mine and loosing it wasn't an option.  
  
That and Lady Setsuna would be royally pissed...  
  
I saw the familiar shine of gold and let out a deep sigh, walking over and picking it from the dusty brick ground. I wiped the dirt from it's surface and returned it to my pocket. Smiling in satisfaction I turned to walk back out.  
  
However, I could take no more than a step for a figure stood before me, permitting me from advancing. Before I could even glance up at the figure, a punch was sent my way and I was forced to swing my entire upper body backwards to dodge it. I barely managed to catch myself with my hands and scramble back.   
  
I stood again, tensing my body for the next attack. I was able to get a good look at my attacker during a brief moment of pause. She was as tall (if not an inch or two taller) as Alita, standing in a strong fighting stance. Her body was slender, but well built for a female. Long silver strands of hair were tied loosely in a low braid that cascaded over her shoulders while jade eyes watched me with careful honor.   
  
Those eyes strangely reminded me of Akutenshi... Though instead of merely whispering of death in sweet refinement, these eyes promised it.  
  
The pause ended and the figure ran forward, sweeping her feet as she attempted to kick my legs out from under me. I jumped above them, barely able to dodge, and landed harshly as she pulled herself back up. She threw a punch to my head again and I swerved to the side, feeling the wind brush past my face.   
  
I grabbed the girl's arm and pulled her around, surprised at her weight, but able to throw her off balance as she swung. Her back hit the wall of the alley and I quickly went for the attack, kicking towards her. She rocked her body sideways to evade the hit and pushed herself back, swinging her leg with her.   
  
I ducked that kick, and the one that was delivered after it, jumping back as her foot drove into the ground with a painful sounding slam. The silver haired one wasn't fazed in the least, and turned herself around swiftly, kicking again.  
  
That one hit.  
  
Rather hard.   
  
I was thrown back quite a ways, barely able to remain standing from the impact to my stomach. I recovered as quick as I could and went after her again.   
  
A series of kicks and punches commenced, each being blocked with precise effort. I stole glances at her jade eyes to verify her emotions. What I saw scared me, but I kept fighting. The girl was indeed powerful, even my skills were slipping under her accuracy. But there was one major fault. That fault kept me in the fight.  
  
She was holding back.  
  
I threw a punch to her face and she ducked under it with frightening speed. My breath got caught in my throat as I felt her slam her forearm into my stomach, shoving me backwards. I gasped inward as my back rammed against the wall and before I could regain full operation of my body, I felt a cold blade press up against my throat.  
  
I cursed under my breath, seeing my own sword being held up against me. This girl was good. Extremely good...  
  
Her cold jade eyes flickered with a sense of pride and victory. I couldn't tell what was going through those eyes. Did she mean to kill me? Was she going to let me go? Was she a thief? Was she-  
  
A shadow fell over the both of us and our two sets of eyes drifted to the source. There at the end of the alleyway stood Akutenshi, her icy blue eyes looking from the figure to me. A wind stirred gently as a long silence began. Slowly, the blonde haired princess opened her mouth to speak.  
  
"I'm going to go feed my dog."  
  
And she walked away.  
  
'RAINA!' my mind screamed at me. 'What kind of team are you putting together!?'  
  
Those thoughts left however, as the blade eased itself from my neck. The girl took a step back and turned the sword, handing me the handle. I took the dragon sword from her and slid it back into it's sheath.   
  
"You're a good fighter," she said in a dark, calm voice. "Best I've fought in a while. However, you need to keep your weapon under better tabs."  
  
I gave a frown. "And you need to stop holding back your strength..."  
  
The girl's eyebrow twitched once as she sent a small glare my way. The frown slipped into a smirk as she turned to leave. I frowned myself, mostly in curiosity.  
  
"What's your name...?" I asked. She answered without giving the effort to turn.  
  
"Keikan."  
  
~*~  
  
"You were WHAT!?"  
  
I opened my eyes slowly, an annoyed scowl crossing my face. "Attacked..." I answered the youngest princess who stood over me. I didn't move from my slouched position in the rather comfortable chair of Jupiter's well furnished waiting room. Ookami and Alita stood before me, the elder a little less shocked than the younger.  
  
"Who attacked you?" the elder princess asked calmly. Her eyes were wide with wonder and surprise however.   
  
"Hell if I know..." I muttered, leaning back in the seat further. "Some girl I've never seen before and probably will never see again."  
  
"Did she kick your ass?!"  
  
That nearly caused me to fall from my seat and, or, rise in anger and slap the living hell from Ookami's body. I remained calm however, merely glaring at the younger princess from my seat. "Yes, alright?" I admitted. "She gained a significant edge over me, and then the fight was interrupted by Akutenshi."  
  
"The freaky-psycho-princess...?" the red head inquired.  
  
"One and the same..."  
  
"By the way, where did she go...?"  
  
"To... 'feed her dog'..."  
  
Ookami blinked. "Since when does she have a dog...?"  
  
"She's insane, does she really need one to feed one...?"  
  
"I see your point..."  
  
With that settled, the two princess' joined me by collapsing on the couch next to mine. Alita leaned her head back with an almost exasperated look while Ookami let herself fall over the arm, looking rather bored. I crossed one leg over another and sunk deeper into the plush chair. This day wasn't going very well.  
  
'Course,' my mind muttered with a strange sense of humor. 'You haven't had a good day in a while, have you?' The humor turned butter and I closed my eyes, trying to remember the last time I had a good day. I couldn't think of one.  
  
"Lady Invan?"  
  
I opened my eyes with the speaking of my name. My gaze fell upon a young man with hair a shade of dark pink, dressed in the formal green uniform of Jupiter. I rose from the chair and gave a nod, validating his presumption. He gave a bow, the messy mop of hair shifting slightly as he did so.  
  
"I am Shuidou, personal servant of the royal family," he said politely, his blue eyes giving a friendly sparkle. He rose and smiled. "If you'll follow me, I'll show you to the garden where the Queen Ayaka waits."  
  
I smiled. "Thank you Shuidou," I replied. I gave a nod to Alita and Ookami, who stood and followed me as I followed the young boy out the door. The heels of our shoes clicked against the marble only for a few moments before the boy opened a side door, pausing to let the three of us through.  
  
My eyes widened upon walking into the garden. The rumors of Jupiter's magnificence were not exaggerated. On either side of us stretched large willow-like trees that reached downward and swayed with the warm breeze that passed through. Behind the trees were lines of bright green bushes that bloomed exotic looking flowers and beneath was rich, lush grass. The trail itself was a manmade stream with marble stepping stones for walking.   
  
Farther beyond the organized, well trimmed garden I could see the wilderness of Jupiter's forest. I spied small trails etched through it and benches for sitting, but it was too far off to see much of it. My eyes turned to the pink haired boy as he made his way past the two other gawk-ers and myself. Alita, Ookami and I quickly followed, keeping to the stepping stones to make sure we didn't land in the water.  
  
Not long after we started this walk in the garden, Shuidou led us to a pathway off to the side. At the end of that path was a clearing in the plant life, with a stone table in the center and stone benches placed carefully around it.  
  
At the table sat an woman who looked quite young to be a queen. Her long brown hair fell elegantly around her, being held back from her face by her silver crown. Her long green dress was wrapped loosely, the back end dragging across the grass from it's length. Her gloved hands held her tea cup gently as she sipped from it.  
  
Shuidou took a step forward, giving a deep bow. "Queen Ayaka, Raina Saverse Invan and the two princess' are here," he said firmly before taking a step back and allowing us to walk forward. The queen looked up at us and gave a small smile that, in my opinion, looked rather forced. I strained to keep myself from shifting with discomfort.  
  
"Good afternoon, Miss Raina," she said in a gentle voice that went against her forced smile. She placed the tea cup down and rose from her seat and moved toward us. She gave a nod to Alita and Ookami before returning her gaze to me. "You are here to pick up my daughter, I presume."  
  
I gave a nod. "Yes your majesty, I-"  
  
"I don't have a daughter."  
  
I froze, mouth half open. There was something amiss from the way she said that. There was a look in her eye that told me that something was wrong. My mouth closed slightly. "Excuse me...?" I asked in order to confirm what she said.  
  
"I don't have a daughter," she repeated, the smile fading slightly. "I only have a son."   
  
After another pause, I gave a slightly bow. "I understand. Then I have no business here," I said, raising once more too gaze at her. "My crew and I shall leave as soon as possible. I apologize for wasting your time."  
  
The fake smile returned. "It's nothing. I can understand why you would make a misjudgment." The queen gave a motion of her hand before turning back to the table, sitting once more. "Perhaps next time we meet, there shall be reason for our conversation. Farwell."  
  
My eyebrow gave a small twitch, feeling that I was being treated rather rudely. I let the idea escape my mind, knowing that I was on her planet after all. I gave another bow and left. Alita followed quickly after, and Ookami did as well, after a slight pause.  
  
Once out of hearing range, Ookami skipped over a few stepping stones so she was walking next to me. "There's something wrong! She was lying!" she whispered harshly. I gave a nod of agreement, keeping my pace quite fast.  
  
"I know she was."  
  
"Jupiter only has one child," Alita muttered aloud. "And it is a girl. I met her once a long time ago."  
  
I stopped my walking and turned to her. "Why did she say she had a son?" I asked, feeling my anger rise once more. Alita shrugged and shook her head, obviously not knowing the reason. Ookami's face contorted into a deep frown.  
  
I was about to say something else when I noticed Shuidou jogging up to join us. He stopped a few feet away, giving a small, apologetic frown. "Please forgive my queen. She hasn't been of a good disposition lately," he said, giving a small bow, his pink tresses bouncing about his head.  
  
Ookami crossed her arms. "From the way she was talking, it sounds like she's been in a bad mood for quite a while!" she muttered crossly. I sent a glare at her.  
  
"...For seven years actually..." he muttered silently. My mouth dropped slightly and Ookami smirked from her slight triumph over my word. "Her and the king have been going through constant quarreling."  
  
"Where is the king?" Alita asked inquisitively.   
  
"He's doing his normal inspection of the planet's governments," Shuidou answered. "He won't be back for a few weeks." He gave a pause. "But their heir is a daughter."  
  
"Do you know where we can find her?" I inquired. Shuidou gave a smile and nodded.  
  
"She's training in the training center right now. If you want I can take you there."  
  
"That would he very helpful."  
  
~*~  
  
As it turns out, the training center was all the way on the other side of the market place. So my tired legs had to go through even more torturous walking. Shuidou, thankfully, had a knack for getting through the large area rather quickly though, even if he wasn't able to get some mobile transportation. He had explained that with the distance between the members of the royal family, he had to make long treks like this almost daily. I pitied the poor servant, but he didn't seem to bothered by all of the problems surrounding it. The only thing it looked like he minded was the Queen Ayaka.   
  
Of course, I'd start getting edgy if I had to work for her too...  
  
"So why have the King and Queen been fighting?" asked the Uranus Princess as we walked. I gave her a warning glare to let her know she was inquiring about something she shouldn't be. She, of course, didn't heed my non-verbal warning.  
  
"They've never really been happy," Shuidou replied from his promenade place in front of us. "But their seven year dispute has been about his faithfulness to her. She thinks he's cheating on her, really."  
  
'Interesting,' my mind mused. I wanted to inquire more, but I didn't dare. Ookami did the inquiring for me...  
  
"Is he?"  
  
"Ookami!" I shouted. Despite my curiosity, I knew this was something that should be left alone. "That's none of your business! Stop asking questions about the royal family's personal life!"  
  
The young princess stuck her tongue at me impishly. "I can ask whatever I want!" she retorted. "I'm from a royal family as well!"  
  
I raised my hand to hit her, but Shuidou's reply stopped my action quickly. "He is, though." I nearly tripped at that reply, but regained my composure quickly. Ookami was about as shocked as I was, but tried not to show it, trying more to show her victory over my word.  
  
"With who?" The question was from Alita this time. She was naturally quite curious, and as it looked, slightly concerned.   
  
"One of the servants in the palace," the pink haired boy replied. "He fell in love with one of them before the marriage of him and Queen Ayaka was made official. King Yuki knew, however, that love to a servant would bring a bad reputation to him among some of the nobles, so he went through with the marriage to Queen Ayaka for public view."  
  
A whistle of astonishment came from Ookami. I gave her a small glare, but said nothing. "Why are you telling us this?" I asked, curiously. "Obviously King Yuki doesn't want anyone to know, so why are you letting us know?"  
  
Shuidou turned his head and gave a small smile. "Because you are the Senshi, and I feel you should know," he answered, closing his blue eyes momentarily. "You are going to be training his daughter, and his daughter knows everything about his affair. She supports him in his decision and I thought it would be better for you to know that though she does support him, she is very sensitive about it, for it caused separation in her family."  
  
The blue haired princess gave a small noise and scratched the back of her head. "I would have figured she would be angry at him for causing problems in family," she muttered. "Why does she support him so much?"  
  
"Because she holds strong dislike for her mother."  
  
I blinked at this. I could sense the dislike from mother to daughter, but I was a bit surprised to see the feeling was mutual. Alita further questioned, "I take it that it has something to do with her mother's remark about her being a male...?"  
  
Shuidou nodded. "The Queen Ayaka is greatly ashamed of her daughter," he explained, voice taking in some pity. "She trains daily in the art of fighting, and her mother is greatly offended. The princess has never been much of a lady in the activities of her life."  
  
"I see," the red haired princess muttered. "So her mother, in her own mental disgrace, disgraces her daughter by saying she's a boy."  
  
"That is basically the situation."  
  
"How depressing."  
  
"You say she trains," I muttered, deciding it best to change subjects. "She must be a really good fighter."  
  
Shuidou smiled brightly and nodded with enthusiasm. "Oh yes!" he replied quickly. "Her trainer is one of the best on all of Jupiter, even if he is the youngest."  
  
"How young is he?" I asked, more for the mere purpose of conversation than actual curiosity.  
  
"Nineteen."  
  
Now I did trip, but managed to save myself from a nasty fall. "N-ninteen!?" I chocked out, started to walk again, a look of pure disbelief on my face. Shuidou looked at me from over his shoulder as he walked, blinking curiously. "He's only as old as I am! That's not nearly old enough to train someone!"  
  
"Well you're a trainer aren't you?" Alita asked, also curious. "You're going to be training us."  
  
I gave a small glare. "I'm a senshi, and I'm not going to be training you alone," I answered curtly. "Kyle Greywind and the Lady Setsuna are also going to be training the new senshi."  
  
Ookami started smirking and nudged me with her elbow. "This just proves some of your shortcomings," she remarked. "If you get angry at everyone whose better than you, you're never going to have a happy moment in your life!" I glared at her and raised a hand in a threatening manner. She only smirked wider and jogged up to join Shuidou.   
  
The blue haired princess froze however, and rather unexpectedly at that, for I wasn't able to stop in time and knocked into her. I glared at her, about to make a remark, but I noticed to terrified look on her face and immediately grew curious. I followed her gaze, and as soon as I saw what she saw, my face contorted into an expression similar to hers.  
  
"This is the training center," Shuidou motioned, oblivious to our sudden fear. "The princess is training in here."  
  
Akutenshi stood promptly next to the door of the five story building. She watched us, making no motion to move from her spot. I tried to ignore the shiver that ran down my spine and moved around the frozen Ookami to follow Shuidou with a gulp. Ookami quickly unfroze and took a quick position to follow, making sure I was always directly in between her and the Saturn Princess. Alita followed as well, right after Ookami, trying to make her fear more discreet.  
  
The building itself wasn't very large. It was more like a giant cube with a few doors and windows. There was a gate extending for quite a distance on either side, however, and a large forest behind it. I blinked at it in curiosity. "Where's the training part of it?"  
  
"The forest is where they train," the pink haired servant answered, entering a password into the doors of the building. "The scenery helps for sneak tactics and emphasizes agility, speed, and strength. There are clearings, of course, for hand to hand combat."  
  
"Oh," I replied. It sounded nice actually, maybe even better than the training center on the moon that I had attended. There it had been holographic rooms. Actual scenery would probably be a better alternative though, and give people a lot more experience.  
  
I followed Shuidou into the building quickly, making sure to keep an eye on Akutenshi as I passed her. Ookami and Alita followed, and the third senshi of the party turned from her place against the outer wall to join us without a word.  
  
Alita smiled nervously at the blonde haired princess. "Did you enjoy your walk?" she asked in attempt to be nice. Akutenshi merely turned her emotionless face to Alita for a few moments. I'm sure those few moments seemed like eternity to the red haired princess. Without replying, Akutenshi returned her dead gaze forward again to stare at nothing in particular.  
  
Alita gave a nervous laugh and turned to me. I only shrugged in reply, ignoring another cold shiver. I turned to Shuidou as walked through a rather plush reception hall (for lack of a better term) to the rear door. He entered another password into the keypad and opened the door for us. I quickly walked through, into the open area. I was shocked at the size of the trees that towered above the area. I strained my eyes to look forward, in attempt to see the other side of the training area, but I found I could not.  
  
"The training area is a mile wide," the servant explained. I heard Ookami groan.  
  
"That'll make finding the princess somewhat difficult," Alita muttered, obviously disappointed. I shook my head and started walking forward.   
  
"We've walked so much so far, what's a mile more?" I asked, smiling, attempted to stay optimistic, but really dreading more walking. My feet were already feeling cramped in my leather boots. I remained quiet however and continued. The three princess and Shuidou followed in suit, eyes gazing about, searching for any sign of movement.  
  
I gave a small noise of thought. "Do they have live animals in here?" I inquired.   
  
"Only when they bring them in for training purposes," the servant replied. "Which would be rather dangerous if they did. The creatures they bring in are usually very deadly things."  
  
I gave another gulp. "So reassuring," I muttered. I could tell by the growing distance between me and the others that they had slowed their pace. Akutenshi was the only one who had not, staying a constant few feet behind me. I was half glad that she didn't hold any silly fears, but really dreading the fact that she was behind me.  
  
I looked over my shoulder, past the Saturn princess and to Shuidou. "Were you informed of any training plans for today?" I asked. "That may help us find her."  
  
"No," he replied. "I'm never told of anything, before or after. The training sessions are to remain private for the most part."  
  
"Ah, great," I stated flatly. I turned my gaze forward again. "That means it'll be harder than-"  
  
I was cut off as something slammed into me from the side. I heard a dual screams from Alita and Ookami that lasted only for a mere second. The figure that had attacked me, rolled with me until the momentum died down, and the figure took place atop of me. I opened my eyes quickly, pushing back the wave of dizziness from being knocked down.  
  
At first I saw Keikan, but quickly realized it wasn't her. The similarities were astounding though; the long silver hair and slim, but well built body. But the figure holding a practice sword to my throat was definitely not female. And his eyes were much softer than the girl whom I had previously fought.  
  
He blinked after a moment and leaned back, taking the wooden sword from my neck. "You're not the Princess," he muttered in astonishment. I made a face.  
  
"No, I'm not."  
  
"I'm sorry, those green clothes... I thought..." He stopped for a moment before muttering, "Shit."  
  
That 'shit' remark of worry was confirmed as another figure hit him pulling him swiftly from me and sending him flying to the opposite side. I quickly rolled over and stood, gazing towards the male and the new figure dressed in a tight green attire, who now had him on his back at sword point. The girl was breathing heavily, obviously from a rough exercise.  
  
"That didn't count," the boy said and the girl gave a groan and threw her sword to the side, relaxing immediately. "We were interrupted by guests." The girl gave a small sound of annoyance and moved herself off of him before standing to face us.  
  
I gawked at the girl's dark expression and familiar face. "K-Keikan...?!" I stuttered out. The girl paused a moment, before a smirk spread across her face. She took a few steps towards me, placing a hand on her hip.  
  
"You're the one I met in the alleyway," she mused. "I knew you were an outside visitor, but I didn't think I'd see you again. You must be the woman they sent to collect the senshi."  
  
I opened my mouth to reply but Ookami cut me off quickly. "You picked a fight with the Princess of Jupiter!?" she scolded. "You idiot! I thought you were smarter than that!"  
  
"Princess?!" I repeated, pointing to Keikan. "She's not-!" I stopped myself this time. Everything seemed to click about then. I lowered my hand, turning to the silver haired girl slowly, a look of understanding coming across my face. "Oh. This suddenly makes sense now..."  
  
I heard Alita giggle from behind, but said nothing in defense or condemnation of me, which I took as a good thing. The silver haired girl gave a smirk and a small chuckle. "Allow me to reintroduce myself. I'm Keikan, daughter of King Yuki Eiril and Queen Ayaka Eiril, Princess of Jupiter's kingdom." The girl motioned to the now standing boy beside her. "This is my trainer, Sakryo."  
  
Sakryo gave a bow upon his introduction. It was almost intimidating how similar the two looked, almost like siblings, but I made no comment of it. "My name is Raina Savers Invan," I replied. "It is a pleasure to meet both of you."  
  
The trainer's eyes widened slightly at the name. "The senshi of Earth?" he questioned, then smiled at my nod. "Then the pleasure is all mine. I have heard many great things about you."  
  
"They must have been exaggerating," Ookami muttered from behind and I shot her the twentieth deadly look for that day. I turned back to Keikan, quickly dismissing the younger princess.  
  
"I hope you will agree to come and train with the new senshi," I said, allowing a forced smile to come into place. I was dreading another member that had such a feel of death about her. "You'll be quite an addition."  
  
The Jupiter Princess raised an eyebrow, frowning slightly. "I don't see why I should come along with-" she started, pausing as her eyes fell onto the blonde haired princess who still stood quite silently. The blue and green eyes locked onto each other and a dark silence fell. Sakryo's eyes gazed at the two princess', though with much less worry than the rest of us.  
  
Keikan walked forward till she was no more than a foot in front of Akutenshi and the two continued to keep direct eye contact. The silence continued, and it grew to almost a painfully deafening level.  
  
"Tell me, Shuidou," Keikan said at last, not letting her eyes wander from the other's. "What is my mother's disposition on letting me leave with Miss Inverse?"  
  
Shuidou gave a pause, uncertain of what to make of the dark, voiceless exchanges between the two princesses. "She doesn't like the idea. Queen Ayaka is quite against it."   
  
The smirk that spread across the silver haired princess' face would have sent shivers through even the bravest of men. Still, she refused to break eye contact with Akutenshi. "I'll come then," she replied. "I think it might prove to be rather... interesting..."  
  
The next action was given, surprisingly, by the blonde haired princess. The emotionless face changed, the lips curving into a smirk even darker than the other's. My eyes widened at the pure malice that seemed to glow from the pale blue eyes. Another shiver tingled my spine and I gulped yet again. It had seemed that the joining of Keikan had reawaked an unholy pact between the two, a pact that should have not been touched.  
  
I heard Ookami and Alita shift next to me. "We are going to die, aren't we?" whined the younger. I didn't reply.  
  
  
  
~Gennom's Computer Bank: Crew Members~  
  
Name: Keikan Eiril  
Age: 16  
Senshi: Jupiter  
Appearance: 5'7"-long silver hair-jade green eyes  
Other Distinguishing Features: numerous scars over her body from training  
Background: Keikan is daughter of Yuki and Ayaka Eiril and holds strong dislikes for those around her. Being that she trained all her life, her mother thinks of her as a boy and claims to have no daughter (which more than likely led to the princess' hatred of people). The only companionship she has is with a boy named Sakryo, her trainer, who looks enough like her that they could pass as siblings. Keikan seems to have some sort of hidden secret shared with the Princess Akutenshi, but this remains only an unproven notion.  
  
Author's Note: Now I have to write the next section... . What planet is next??? *thinks* Mars... ^.^ Oh yeah! The youngest of the new senshi is coming in the next chapter. Well not the next chapter... next chapter is between planets... Geh... I'm sure you get the idea! ^.^ Please review and add any constructive critism of even some words of what should happen! I have it mostly planned out but some ideas on pranks would be nice... . I'm not good with those... Thank you for reading!   
~Lordess 


	10. Part 2 9: Between Jupiter and Mars

Sailor Senshi Next Generation Part 2.9: Between Jupiter and Mars  
  
  
'That's four out of four planets you've had problems with,' my mind scolded. 'First the whole booby-trapped hall and hologram mix-ups, on to nearly getting run over and everlasting grudges, moving towards getting stuck in a prison cell and ending up with the darkest princess you could ever meet, and ending with getting into a fight with a princess and unleashing some dark blessed concordat between two beings that should have stayed disjointed. Nice job your doing, Raina... Real nice...'  
  
I rolled over in my hammock. Since the joining of Keikan, things had gone painfully smoothly. Sakryo had been the keeper of Jupiter's crystal and had handed it over without complaint. The princess had packed little and spent that time to part with her trainer. I had a feeling the two were not sharing as much as I had wanted to know, but didn't question.  
  
I was slightly depressed when we were leaving for take off. I had almost wanted something to go wrong so I could think of a way to keep the princesses of Jupiter and Saturn apart. There was something there between the two, but I couldn't tell what it was.   
  
So I decided to stay in my room as much as possible and pray nothing would happen. That led to surprisingly restful sleep. At the moment, I didn't want to get up from my lying position, curled up in my blue pajamas among many warm blankets. I took a deep breath and curled up deeper in the warmth in attempt to return to my comfortable sleep and forget the problems brewing on the Earth's Wings.  
  
I was so relaxed by steady rocking of my hammock that I took little notice of the opening of my door. Only Gennom had access to my room and I had strictly told him not to let anyone else enter without permission. I had even threatened him with dismemberment if he didn't comply, so I knew he was going to follow my command.  
  
So I should have been more surprised when I heard faint footsteps on the tile of my room, but I had figured, at the time, that they were from outside my door. Either that or I was dreaming. Gennom wouldn't have let anyone in.   
  
"Raina..." a soft voice whispered, rather close to my ear. I rolled my head slightly towards the voice and opened my eyes slowly. I was greeted by a amiable, but alien face. My eyes widened slightly as I looked at the pale completion of the boy standing next to my hammock, his short, forest green hair that fell into surprisingly warm black eyes. It took me a moment to register that this was a complete stranger in my room.  
  
Once it did register, however, I screamed. The boy screamed in reply and took a step back. My hands flew to my sword, which hung from one end of my bed and I drew it in one clean pull and held it at his neck level. His eyes grew wider with panic. "Raina! No! It's me!" he pleaded, holding up his hands in defense. I gave only a pause to look over his green uniform that looked a lot like the uniform a male representative of earth would wear when visiting other planets, but that meant nothing to me.  
  
"Who the HELL are you and what are you doing in my room!?" I screamed, jabbing the sword forward slightly, coming inches from his skin. The boy gulped, taking a step away from the deadly object that was dangerously close to him.  
  
"Stop! Please! Put the sword away!"  
  
"That DOESN'T answer my question!"  
  
"It's ME, Raina!"  
  
"Neither does that! How did get in without my computer-"  
  
"I AM your computer!"  
  
The sword dropped from my hand and clattered on the floor. My eyes grew to twice their normal size as I started at the boy before me. His hands lowered slowly, his eyes reflecting a hope that I wouldn't attack him. I opened a loose mouth to talk, barely able to manage. "G-Gennom...?"  
  
The boy nodded.  
  
I screamed again and scrambled backwards, forgetting momentarily that I was in a hammock. I was reminded when the cloth bed tipped and I fell harshly to the ground, landing flat on my back. The boy was at my side immediately. "Are you alright, Raina?" he asked, his black eyes blinking. I scrambled to my feet and he followed in suit, standing at attention.  
  
"You're... you're..." I couldn't speak at all anymore. The green haired boy blinked in curiosity at what I was trying to get across.  
  
"Gennom..." he finished. I shook my head and poked his cheek to see if he was real. I jumped back at the feel of his cold, but definitely flesh, skin.  
  
"HUMAN!"  
  
Gennom gave a small chuckle and placed a hand behind his head. It was almost a nervous gesture, and he replied in a similar tone, "Not exactly." He gave a pause to come up with appropriate words to make me understand. "The term Robot or Android, is more close to the truth. I'm still quite machine."  
  
I paused, turning from him to the monitor that hung in my room, the Gennom I was used to talking to. It was blank now, as if it had been disconnected. I pointed at it in disbelief while turning back to the boy. "But...how?"  
  
I honestly don't know why I even had to ask. The new Gennom simply pointed a human finger towards the still gaping doorway. There stood a very happy red haired princess, smiling from ear to ear. I nearly killed the girl right there. "I thought you'd like to see my greatest achievement in the field of science!" Alita said, almost bursting with excitement and pride.  
  
"What... the hell...?" I was barely able to speak at that moment. Words seemed just beyond my reach. The scientific princess took a few steps into the room, taking a stand next to the new Gennom. I fell into the seat available behind me.  
  
"I gave him a more mobile body," she explained, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I figured giving him this body would greatly increase proficiency. True, he might not be always carrying everything in his monitor compartment like before, but this form gives him the ability to move into places he could not before, carry things his previous form would be too flimsy to."  
  
I listened as she explained this to me. I agreed with it, but this was not what I truly wanted to know. I held up a hand to silence her as she started to speak again. "It's very nice... but why the hell didn't you ask my permission to do this...?"  
  
Alita blinked, smile faded slightly upon hearing my dissatisfaction. "I thought I'd like to surprise you."  
  
I forced a smile. "And letting him into my room to give me a heart attack when I assumed him for a stow away, assassin or worse..." I paused, letting this sink into her brain. "I congratulate you, that was more than a necessary surprise..."  
  
I'm sure the retort would have lasted longer, but conversation was halted as a blood curdling scream filled the hallways of the Earth's Wings. I jumped from my chair and skid into the hallway. I turned only a moment to see Gemmon's black eyes go blank for a moment, before he looked back to me. "That was from the Princess Ookami, she's in the bathing room," he said with a stern face.   
  
I gave a nod and started down the hallway, my bare feet stinging with each quick step onto the cold metal surface. Alita and Gennom stayed close behind. I skid around a corner into the hallway opposite the senshi's, nearly slamming into Ookami as she screeched to a halt. "What's wrong?!" I asked, almost apprehensively.   
  
The blue haired princess pointed frantically towards the bathroom where she had come from. She was about to speak, but her eyes fell upon Gennom with a new sense of curiosity. "Who's he?" she asked, redirecting her point to him. I shook my head.  
  
"I'll explain later, what happened?!"  
  
Ookami's anger returned as she pointed back to the bathroom. "Someone put a decapitated snake in the sink!" she screamed. "Its blood is smeared everywhere!"  
  
I made a disgusted face before pushing past her to the bathroom. I opened the door and flipped on the light. My face twisted into deeper disgust as I saw all the red splattered on every surface in eye's view. I looked at my hand and gagged slightly upon seeing some of that red smear from the light switch on my finger.   
  
I took a step into the bathroom, the two princess' and Gennom standing at the door. I looked into the sink and frowned slightly. A long, exasperated sigh escaped my lips and I rolled my eyes. I reached my hand in and produced the frightening object. "It's fake," I muttered, showing the plastic snake to Ookami before dropping it back in the sink. I licked the supposed blood off my finger and gave a pleased smile. "So is the blood. Tastes like candy..."   
  
Ookami blinked and whipped some off the wall, tasting it hesitantly. "It does..." she muttered. I sighed again and moved around the three to the hallway once more. I wrapped my hands about the back of my head before starting back to my room.  
  
"Another prank from one of the princesses," I mused aloud. "That means all the princesses are going to clean it up."  
  
"What?!" Alita and Ookami asked in unison. I gave a smile to myself, pausing to turn around.  
  
"I'm not going to clean it up."   
  
"But why do we have to?" Ookami asked.  
  
"Well unless the person who did this will confess, all four princesses will clean it," I clarified for her. Ookami's face twisted into a glare that informed me I was once again hated by the little princess.  
  
"But it's not likely that the perpetrator will confess to the crime," Alita mused aloud. I could detect a slight whine in her voice of having to wipe away all the liquid red candy from the walls. I shrugged and began to walk away once more.  
  
"That means it is likely that all four of you will have to clean it up," I replied. Gennom began to follow me in stride. "Gennom, I'd like you to get Akutenshi and Keikan to come out of their rooms and confess, or help Alita and Ookami."   
  
"Alright, Raina," he responded. He paused, biting the inside of his lip. "But isn't it a little unfair to make all four of them do it?"  
  
"I could always make you help..."  
  
"Me? Why me?"  
  
"Because with your android body, you could of had full part in that prank."  
  
Gennom paused and made a face, obviously offended by my remark. "I'm hurt that you'd think I'd desecrate myself like that..." he muttered. I gave a pause as I walked.  
  
"True, you hate it when I leave a mess, you probably wouldn't do it," I pondered aloud, moving one hand to finger my lip in thought. "Course that could also be the perfect cover up."  
  
"Raina!"  
  
"I'm kidding!"  
  
"You know I could throw you off this ship any moment!"  
  
"I could always turn this ship off at any moment too..."  
  
"..."  
  
I gave a wave of my hand. "I'm going back to bed," I stated, giving a yawn. Gennom shook his head.  
  
"We're getting close to Mars, you wouldn't get a good enough sleep," he commented. I turned to him and continued to progress backwards. A smirk settled on my face and he blinked in curiosity.  
  
"You want to bet on that?" I asked. The computer made a face, and I noted that it was very strange talking to him when he seemed this human. It'd have to be something to get used to. I turned around again. "I'm going back to bed," I repeated. "Wake me when we get to Mars' orbit."  
  
I heard the android grumble behind me and walk off. I smiled to myself and stepped proudly into my room, ready to return to my comfortable blankets. I strode with wide yet slow steps to the hammock and readied myself to crawl in. My smile faded into a dark frown as I noted another plastic snake lying atop my covers.  
  
I gave a small growl. 'Whichever senshi pulled this one is going to get a long lecture,' my mind groaned. I shook my head, deciding to dismiss the lecture for the moment and grabbed the plastic snake by the tail, lifting it from my covers.   
  
My body froze, however, once I had gotten the snake out of the bed. The touch of this snake greatly differed from that of the plastic snake in the sink. I blinked a few times, my teeth clenching themselves together. Almost on cue to my thoughts, the snake's head moved, it's body twisting slightly, letting it's tongue slither out and give a small hiss.  
  
'Oh god...'  
  
The snake twisted its body swiftly and clamped its teeth deep into the skin of my arm.  
  
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"  
  
  
Author's note: O.o two in one day... I do believe that's a new record for me ^.^ tee hee hee... Please leave a review ~.^   
~Lordess 


	11. Part 2 10: Mars

Author's Note: I haven't posted in a very long time... . I know... I'm evil... you can kill me now... But leave a review while you're at it, okay?  
  
~lordess  
  
~MARS~  
  
On the surface, Mars is tied with Saturn for the most desolate planet in the solar system. Instead of having endless miles of crystal, however, Mars' entire surface is a scorching desert. It is well populated, despite these circumstances, and has survived through it's booming industrial power. Factories are scattered across the surface, built with only the strongest metal on the planet to block the sometimes lethal dust storms that occur often.   
  
The majority of life and business occurs underneath the surface, within the extensive caverns that stretch for miles upon miles from the entry ways in the ravines. These large caves are filed with buildings for housing, offices, and vegetation growth. Wild vegetation also grows in these areas, but very rarely with the lack of sunlight.  
  
Inside one of these grottos lies the royal palace. The magnificent building is constructed completely of a gold like material that was mined from a shallow cave near the surface. This strong ore rises from the ground to make spiraling spires that have been lined with red gems, making it glitter even in the dimness of the cave.   
  
"Insolent children!"  
  
Yet again, I was preoccupied far from the palace. We had landed in one of the only available air strips on the planet and I had shoved the princesses off of my ship as fast as I could. They had played another prank on me which I was forced to clean up. Keikan had decided to stay a while, watch me in my misery with some sense of satisfaction.  
  
I rubbed my bandaged arm indolently as I stalked around my room, trying to sort through the new mess. Keikan stood in the doorway, leaning her shoulder against the frame as her eyes danced about curiously. She gave a smirk. "I'll have to commend the person who did this," she mused aloud.  
  
I paused in picking up a bundle of clothes. "Commend?" I repeated, I held up one of my shirts that was covered in sticky pink goo, the same sticky pink goo that covered my entire room and nearly all it's contents. "This is a mess!" I threw the shirt into the pile of things to be cleaned.  
  
"How exactly did it get everywhere?" the silver haired princess asked. I resumed moving about the room.  
  
"Exploding Jack-in-the-Box," I muttered in reply.  
  
"Definitely commendable."  
  
I threw another piece of goo covered clothing towards the pile. It hit the wall above it with a strange squishing noise and stuck there. I turned to Keikan with an exasperated look. "These pranks of yours are getting really old."  
  
"I didn't do this," she said with an amused smirk.  
  
"All of the princesses' pranks that have been going on on my ship," I corrected, trying to retain some control of my anger. I pointed to the bandage on my arm. "And some are getting dangerous too."  
  
"The snake wasn't poisonous."  
  
"It still bit me!"  
  
"That's because you were stupid enough to pick it up!"  
  
"I thought it was fake!"  
  
Keikan could barely restrain herself from laughing at me. I gave an aggravated sigh and shooed her away from my room. "Go into the town for a while and go shopping or something," I ordered, trying to get her off the Earth's Wings. "Alita, Ookami, and Akutenshi already have a head start on you, but you're pretty fast. I'm sure you can catch up."  
  
The princess of Jupiter chuckled to herself and heeded my orders, leaving me to my room.  
  
Usually I would have had the princesses clean up their own mess, but this was my room, my sanctuary if you will. Even if it had been them who created this jumble, I wouldn't let them touch it again. It would be too easy for them to set up a prank for a later date.  
  
I collected the pile of dirty clothes and placed them atop the dirty sheet of my bed. I pulled the corners and made a bag for easier carrying and pulled it towards the door. "Gennom!" I called as I lowered the bag to the ground near the door. Within a few moments, the android body of Gennom stopped before me. He paused, blinking in at the pink mess.   
  
"Who did that?"  
  
I shrugged and accompanied it with a sigh. "I need you to bring these down to the other end of the ship to get washed," I told him, lifting the bag again and handing it to him. He gave a nod, staring into the room a moment more before beginning to retreat. He paused and turned back for a moment.  
  
"After I drop these off, may I go into town for a while?" he asked. I paused myself, tilting my head. It was odd having a computer ask me to go into town. After a moment I nodded, deciding not to question.  
  
"Go ahead, I'm just going to finish cleaning up here," I mused, bending over again to push some object to the wall. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Gennom smile before he turned and walked off. It brought a glimmer of a smile to my face, but I quickly reverted myself back to cleaning.   
  
I slid open my closet door and began moving the clean objects and clothes in the area that had been protected from the sticky blast. I knelt down and also began searching for the cleaning supplies I had put in there some time ago, but never got around to using. Something shifted as I hit it and another thing fell, landing softly on a pile of clothes on the closet's floor.  
  
I stopped searching as I stared down at the fallen object. It was a framed picture that had been taken more years ago than I could remember. I picked it up carefully in both hands, studying the glass covered photo.   
  
'That's right,' I thought to myself. 'The next planet is...'  
  
My fingers slid across the glass slowly and I could feel a frown settle on my face. In the picture, a birthday party was taking place. The little girl was giggling and laughing, wearing the green dress that her mother had gotten her before she died. The girl was being held in the arms of another. He was a tall man, with a warm smile and a happy expression. He was wearing the uniform of an Earth Representative, for he had just come home so he could attend this party.  
  
The little girl, I knew, was me. I can't remember ever being this happy, for there were only few times during my early life when I was able to celebrate something without being interrupted. And the man?  
  
"Papa..."  
  
It was a picture of my fifth birthday. Mother had passed away almost a year before and father had been rather preoccupied with the building of the Earth's Wings to be around much, so until that point, I had been raised by governesses and tutors in the Moon Kingdom. Father had brought me down to Earth, my birth place, with the finishing of the Earth's Wings so he could celebrate my birthday with me. It was the happiest day of my life.  
  
Two presents were given to me by him that seemed to shape the rest of my life. The first was that I would now be accompanying him as Junior Assistant Pilot (as he had called it) to the Earth's Wings. The second was my mother's locket and the Earth Crystal.  
  
Seeing the picture, I was reminded that my father was still missing. I was fulfilling the duty he had assigned to me the last time I saw him. Or I think the last time I saw him. There wasn't much of that time that was completely clear to me, but I knew what had to be done. And it would get done to the best of my ability.  
  
I put the picture away in the closet again and went back to cleaning my room.  
  
The four princesses were sitting together for an early dinner when Gennom joined them. It had been a surprise to Alita and Ookami that Akutenshi had joined them. That surprise turned into a slight intimidation at the closeness she held with Keikan, though neither even looked at each other anymore. The Saturn Princess sat staring out the window of the small restaurant while the three others went about discussing the pranks they had played thus far, so to better plan for future pranks.  
  
The rules of the Prankster Princesses were always unspoken, but always there. As they had gotten their nickname from the pure coincidence of similar interest in the matter, they liked to keep it more on the pure side while keeping it from straying to far from harmless jokes. When princesses would visit each other, they would occasionally discuss their pranks in a careless matter, keeping the hardcore plans for ideas to a minimum until more private ways of communication could be found.  
  
"The snake bit was a tad too dangerous," Alita mused, sipping at her milkshake. "I don't think she'll ever forgive you for that one."  
  
"I didn't think she'd actually pick it up!" Keikan defended before shoving a few devil fruit chips (a common snack on Mars) into her mouth. "Any moron with half a brain would have realized it was a real snake." She leaned back in her seat after a moment of thought. "Besides, Socks is not only non-poisonous, but he's also very good natured. Raina probably grabbed him wrong or something."  
  
"Socks?" Ookami repeated, playing with her food more than eating it. "That's quite a odd name for a snake. Why'd you name it that?"  
  
"I didn't," Keikan replied. "Sakryo did."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because when I was young, I would hide him in people's sock drawers for a prank."  
  
Ookami shifted with slight discomfort, holding a slight fear for snakes. The thought of one in her sock drawer sent shivers up her spine. She sipped at her drink and cleared her throat. Alita giggled slightly at Ookami's discomfort, but changed the subject back to the one at hand. "We have to start being a bit more original with our pranks," she started. "If we keep doing the same thing, she'll start picking out things before they have a chance to deploy."  
  
"We'll yeah," Keikan agreed, shifting her sitting position. "But that's not as easy as it sounds. We have very limited space and supplies on the ship. We also have to deal with limited funding."  
  
"We'll just have to get creative then," the red haired one replied, twirling some pasta on her fork, before slipping it into her mouth. Keikan paused, then nodded and smiled.   
  
"If creativity is all we need, things will get a whole lot easier now."  
  
Ookami made a face. "I don't see where you get that idea from," she mused, using her utensils to make drawings with her chicken pieces.   
  
"I've heard that the prankster princess of Mars is valued for her creativity."  
  
Alita drew back a bit, frowning before continuing to say, "I've heard that too. But the older princess? Or the younger?"  
  
"The older I believe," Keikan replied.  
  
"How can you tell the difference?" Ookami asked skeptically.  
  
"Gennom."  
  
The three sets of eyes flickered to Akutenshi for a moment as she spoke, then to the direction she was now looking; the front door of the restaurant. "So it is," Alita mused, watching the green haired one move towards their table. She smiled and waved to him. Gennom smiled with slight nervousness as he joined the four princesses.  
  
"How goes it?" Keikan asked, leaning back in her seat once more. "Raina still cleaning that mess?"  
  
Gennom nodded, then bit the inside of his lip. Alita noticed his timidity and frowned slightly. She tilted her head towards him asking, "Is something wrong? You look rather worried."  
  
Gennom gave a half nod before another pause. "I have something to ask you four. A favor," he started. Keikan, Alita, and Ookami all leaned in closer, their attentions caught for the moment. Akutenshi merely continued to stare at him with emotionless eyes. "I need to ask you not to pull any pranks till we reach Venus."  
  
"Excuse me?" the blue haired princess asked, leaning back in her seat once more. "Why should we stop? That's like asking us not to breath air!"  
  
"Gennom, you'll have to give us a damn good reason," Keikan mused, resting her chin in an open palm. "Otherwise it's out of the question."  
  
"You don't know how sensitive Raina is going to be the next couple of days," the android tried to explain, beginning to play with his own fingertips.   
  
"Usually sensitivity gives us more reason to continue with pranks," Alita responded, turning back to her food.   
  
Gennom shook his head, stopping his nervous play with his fingers to fist them slightly. "You don't understand," he started again. "The next planet we're passing... She's going to be really stressed and worried. She may seem like a harsh person and trainer, but I'm really worried about her. Things are going to be tense as it is."  
  
"The next planet?" Ookami repeated, pausing to think. She frowned as things pieced themselves together. "I see. No wonder she'll be 'sensitive'."  
  
Keikan, realizing the same thing Ookami had, nodded with a sigh. "I guess we can hold back on our little tricks for a while," she mused, then added a smile. "After all, we're going to be with her for a long time during training. But we can only account for the pranks of us four. Raina's already going to have some problems once she goes to the palace."  
  
Gennom frowned and tilted his head. "What do you mean?"  
  
"Don't you know about the Princesses of Mars?"  
  
~*~  
  
"Clean."  
  
I smiled, gazing at the wonderful, organized space known as my room. I don't believe it had ever looks so nice. And now I was clean to match it, having just exited the shower, now wrapped in a warm bathrobe. I moved into the spotless expanse and sauntered to my closet, hearing the door slide shut behind me.  
  
I pulled out the clothing and quickly changed into them. It was almost late afternoon by now, and I didn't want to waste any more time. I had to get to the palace soon and make my presence known. I had some supplies to buy, which I'd wait till the morning to purchase, allowing one night of rest. That meant I wouldn't have to collect the princess today, but it would give her more time to be ready.  
  
After pulling my hair back up into a ponytail, I grabbed the communicator watch from my dresser and put in on my wrist. I paused, wondering if it would still work, even if Gennom was running around in his android body. I decided it was worth the chance and left the Earth's Wings. The docking area was pretty much abandoned, aside from a few trading vessels. There weren't many people who came to Mars, except for business purposes.  
  
I moved to the twin metallic doors and they slid opened as I drew near. Once through them, I was able to see a large expanse of the capital city. I took a moment to stand on that high perch, looking out to the buildings in the large cavern. Everything seemed to be tainted with the red dirt from the walls, giving it a somewhat grimy look.  
  
Regardless of the dirty appearance, the people were quite clean. I stepped into an elevator that lowered me down to the lower levels. Upon exiting, I was greeted by the moving crowds of rather well dressed inhabitants. Many of them wore jewelry of many different kinds.  
  
I was reminded that jewelry was one if it's major industries, the others including raw materials and weaponry.   
  
I tried to move through the area as quickly as I could towards a transport station. Transportation here was mostly that of a subway system, where large, capsule like loads of people would shoot though a complex track of tubing. It was very rare that someone had to travel across the surface to get anywhere.  
  
Once in the station, I hurried myself onto the transport that would take me nearest to the castle. I looked around the inside of the slender interior. It was almost like a rounded train, like they had back on Earth. The seats were high backed and quite comfortable. The windows consisted of one long, panel of glass that stretched from the front to the back, though was very small and left little to view.   
  
There were only a few others on the train, I noted. Most of them appeared to be of the elder crowd, and more than likely of the richer crowd as well. I took a seat close to the back and next to the window, adjusting myself and crossing my arms as I gazed out the thin window. It wasn't long at all before the transport began moving and my view was covered by swiftly moving walls of rock.   
  
I waited for what seemed like eternity till I reached my stop. By then, my legs had become quite cramped for the little spacing between rows. I stood, moving quickly to the exit and happily stepping off of the transport and onto the solid tile floors of the station. After a quick look around, I set a fast pace towards the exit so I could figure out which direction to head next.  
  
I practically vaulted up the staircase, forcing circulation to start up in them again. At the top of the stairs, I was greeted by another crowd of well-dressed citizens, all of whom cared little for my presence. I smiled as I eyed the golden palace to the west (or what I believed was west), and set a steady pace towards it.   
  
The journey itself was shorter than I thought it would be, and after some identification was shown, I was being lead through the marvelous twin doors and into the front hall. White marble stretched before me, draped with red and purple sashes that lined the walls.  
  
The servant led me to one of the side rooms close to the throne room and beckoned me to sit. I smiled my thank you and took in the large, red room before reclining into the plush, leather chair. It was nice to have things go smoothly for once.  
  
I smiled.  
  
~*~  
  
Gennom gasped for air as he ran, top speed, through the streets and towards the palace. Behind him, three of the four princesses followed, struggling a bit to keep up with the android's fast pace. Akutenshi had disappeared somewhere, without so much as a word, but Alita and Ookami didn't mutter a word of complaint.  
  
"Why in the nine moons are we running!?" Keikan screamed ahead, forcing her body to move fast enough to be at his side.  
  
"I've got to get to Raina before she gets to the palace!" he yelled back, swinging to the side to dodge a pedestrian. He yelled an apology back to the surprised woman.  
  
"That doesn't explain why we're running!" Ookami snapped, trailing a little, even as she pushed off of light posts to help her. "Why don't you contact her with her communicator?!"  
  
"She turned it off!"  
  
"Why would she do that?!"  
  
"Probably because she doesn't want us bothering her," Alita mused. She took in a deep breath, her legs beginning to fail her. They had rushed out of the restaurant so fast that her food had barely any time to digest. She couldn't describe how thankful she was as Gennom slowed to a stop, his black eyes looking about for something familiar to lead him to the palace.  
  
"Now my question is," the red haired princess began, using a building wall as support. "Why did we three get dragged along for the ride, Gennom?"  
  
"Because I'm going to need your help," he replied. The black in his eyes fuzzed a bit as a computer's would before he smiled. "That way!" he exclaimed, pointing forward before starting his fast pace again. All three princesses groaned before reluctantly following.  
  
~*~  
  
I jumped from my seat as the doors opened and a tall, slightly old man walked in to greet me. "Good afternoon, Miss Invan," he started, a wide smile set upon is lips. He gave a bow to me before continuing. "I am Sir Tatsumi, royal advisor. King Tsuzuki and Queen Hisouka are both outside the kingdom on business affairs, but I have in instructed to handle all affairs concerning the princess."  
  
I smiled. "It shall be done as they requested," I replied, bowing a bit myself. "The only other thing that I require is the Crystal of Mars. I shall take the best of care of your princess and I shall train her well-" I stopped as the royal advisor's face twisted with slight discomfort. My own pride faltered. "Is something wrong?"  
  
"Well Miss Invan," he started again. He fidgeted a bit, twisting his hands together as he spoke, but never allowing that fake smile to fade. "The two daughters of Mars have never been separated before. They feel that if only one may go, the need must be of dire importance, and they ask that that importance be proved."  
  
I paused, blinking a bit and readjusting my posture. "Well that sounds easy enough," I muttered, smiling myself. The man's smile faltered a bit, but he said nothing more about it and gave a small bow.  
  
"Then follow me, Miss Invan."  
  
Tatsumi led the way, adjusting his glasses and fidgeting more as he walked. A few servants nodded to us as we walked, and I nodded in return. He led me to one of the rooms on the second floor and opened the door, taking a step back to let me in first.  
  
Two sets of eyes turned to me and I began to feel the horror sink in.  
  
"What they ask, Miss Invan," Tatsumi began, folding his hands as he took his place behind me. "Is that you determine which one of them is the elder and which the younger."  
  
I forced a smile. "I was afraid you were going to say that."  
  
~*~  
  
Gemmon skid to a stop as a ringing echoed through his head. He winced at the piercing feeling it sent through him. The three princesses (pretty far behind by now), ran up to see what the problem was. "You're going to have to make that softer," he muttered to Alita, rubbing his temples a bit. "Having sensitive hearing doesn't go well with that."  
  
"With what?" the young scientist asked, quite out of breath by now.   
  
"My communicator ring," he replied. His eyes blanked out as he opened the communication link and received the message. ~Gennom here.~  
  
~Why didn't you tell me this planet had twins...?~  
  
Even with his systems focused on the communication link, the corners of his mouth twitched a bit downward. ~I just found out, Raina. I tried to contact you, but your link was turned off!~ he explained.  
  
There was a long pause from the other end before the purple haired senshi spoke again. ~Get over here with the princesses... NOW!~  
  
The link was cut off and a small jolt was sent through the android's system. He shuddered and shook the discomfort from his circuits.  
  
"Raina?" Ookami muttered questioningly. Gennon nodded. The red eyed princess forced a laugh and began dragging herself forward. "Keep on running..."  
  
~*~  
  
I was started to get a headache, but I tried not to let it show.  
  
Yukai and Murika sat on the couch, watching me as I paced. It was near an hour after I had been introduced to the twins, exactly forty-five minutes after Gennom and three of the four princesses had arrived. The intimidating thing was that Akutenshi had shown up five minutes before them, and they had claimed that she hadn't run with them at all.  
  
But that was far from the problem at hand.  
  
Murika and Yukai couldn't have possibly looked more alike. They sat the same way, they smiled the same way, and their purple eyes even had the same shine to them! According to Tatsumi, the younger had once-upon-a-time had long hair, but had cut it just for this occasion. The four other princesses were baffled by the look-a-likes, and had gone quiet for the last quarter of an hour, more content now to watch me pace.  
  
Gennom couldn't help either. Which left me rather stuck...  
  
"I apologize for all this, Miss Raina," Tatsumi muttered, wringing his hands once again as his eyes flickered between the twins and me. "If the King and Queen were here, I'm sure this wouldn't have happened. None of the servants really know the two well enough to tell them apart, and now, I believe, they're purposely acting like one another to trick us."  
  
I waved a hand dismissingly. "It's not your fault, Sir Tatsumi," I urged, slowing my pace. "It shows that these girls know what they want and can get it. Those are fine qualities for Sailor Senshi." I sighed falling back into an open seat. "But geez, I can't tell them apart!"  
  
The twin in the purple dress looked to her sister, her shoulder length black hair flying about her face. The two shared a quiet word before turning to me. "We suggest that you pick quickly, Miss Raina," she said. The one in the red dress nodded.  
  
"Yes, Miss Raina. It's almost dinner time," she added.   
  
"Logic would suggest that the one in the red dress was the elder, for red is Mars' signature color," Alita offered.  
  
"Yes but then they would do the opposite! So it's the one in the purple dress!" Ookami argued.  
  
"Unless, of course, they chose the red one because they knew that you'd pick the purple one, since that's the opposite of logic," was Keikan's closing argument. The three grew silent again and I gave a long groan. I turned my head to Gennom who stood near one of the walls.  
  
"What would Kyle say about this?" I asked him. "He occasionally has good advice."  
  
Gennom looked at me and shrugged. "Open Sesame?" he offered. I gave a chuckle.  
  
"That's why I don't listen to him," I muttered.  
  
"Either that or he would draw upon a conclusion from another problem and find some obscure way to apply it to the current problem," the android mused. I tilted my head, knowing that Kyle was that sort of person. 'Well, it worked before!' was Kyle's infamous line.  
  
I pondered this and let my head rest against the back of the chair. The hand that had been supporting my chin raised a bit so I could chew on my finger as I thought. I figured playing with that idea wouldn't be such a bad choice. In my mind, I reviewed the problems I had encountered recently...  
  
Pink goo...  
  
No, surface cleaner wouldn't work for this.  
  
Snake bite...  
  
Don't thing bandages would work either. Though maybe I could tie the two up later and torture them till they confess.  
  
Fake blood on the walls...  
  
I already tried getting the princesses to help, they can't figure it out.  
  
Flying pies, ruined tank tops, damaged dirt bikes, stubborn computers, hackers, doors that wouldn't open...  
  
...The crystal is the key...  
  
A slow smile spread on my face and my teeth dug into my finger slightly. I became immensely pleased with myself as I stood, chuckling slightly. Gemmon tilted his head curiously, as did a few of the others. "Sir Tatsumi, could you please bring the crystal of Mars here, please?" I asked. The royal advisor nodded and rushed out of the room to retrieve it.  
  
"What are you trying to do?" the green haired android asked. I gave another, strange sounding chuckle.  
  
"Well," I started. "It worked before."  
  
The two young, black haired princesses shot glances to each other, a slight look of nervousness seeping into the twin sets of purple eyes. "If you would please," I said to the twins, motioning for them to rise. They did as I asked and I led them behind the seating arrangements to the more open area behind it. I positioned the two in the center and waved over the four other princesses. "Get into a circle around them," I ordered, motioning each of the four to a position around the two.  
  
Tatsumi rushed back in, offering the red gem shaped in the Mars symbol to me. I took it and held it gently as I took my own position in the circle.  
  
"What are we supposed to do now?" Ookami asked, regarding me curiously. There was a sense of skepticism in her voice that I sensed. I smiled.  
  
"Concentrate on the power of your planets," I told them. I saw the young princess exchange glances with Alita, who took her turn in questions.  
  
"How do we do that?" she asked, her face strangely serious, contrasting greatly to the usual light hearted curiosity she usually held. "We haven't had any training."  
  
I closed my eyes slowly, extending my hand forward, palm facing the ceiling. "Just believe that it's there," I explained. "And call to it." Even though I couldn't see, I knew that all four princesses closed their eyes. I felt the power of Earth swell within me and one by one, the powers of the others began to rise about me.  
  
Even without transforming, the true senshi would be able to call upon their powers, even just to feel them. With more training, they would harness this power into spells to fight, but for now, I just needed their power to be present around me.  
  
I opened my eyes, eyeing the light glows of the symbols on my student's foreheads. I could feel the warmth of the Earth symbol glowing on my own face. I opened my hand and the Mars crystal hovered above my palm, reacting with the power of the others.  
  
The senshi of this generation were linked by the crystals and to the crystals. I watched as energy that only a trained eye could see filtered in and out of the red crystal before me. It glittered a bit, turning slowly as the power of Mars began reacting.  
  
The twin princesses stared straight at me, though my eyes focused on the crystal. I smiled and spoke aloud, "Power of Mars," I called to it. "As the senshi of Earth, I call to you. The senshi must be gathered again. Reveal to us your new master."  
  
The red crystal floated higher, to eye level as it began to glow an immense red. I watched as the glow of energy pulsed three times before it shot off a steady beam of light. The light stopped before the purple dressed girl, filtering into her as the symbol was etched into her forehead. The princess' eyes closed momentarily, opening again as the Mars crystal came to rest in her hand.  
  
The power around me dimmed again, symbols disappearing, leaving everything as it was before.  
  
The twins darted glances to each other before smiling. They turned to me, almost proudly and bowed. "You have passed," the red dressed one said, raising again. "I am Murika, younger daughter of Mars."  
  
The one in the purple dress beamed. "And I am Yukai, the new Sailor Mars."  
  
~Gennom's Computer Bank: Crew Members~  
  
Name: Yukai Asato  
  
Age: 12  
  
Senshi: Mars  
  
Appearance: 4'11" - short black hair- purple eyes  
  
Other Distinguishing Features: A small star tattoo on her right shoulder blade  
  
Background: Yukai is the elder twin of Mars, her sister named Muraki. The two were born into the world by King Tsuzuki and Queen Hisouka and have never spent a day without the other's company. They are known for their childish manner and imaginative ways (although sometimes both can prove to be slightly scatter-brained). Yukai is an excelling tennis player and loves chocolate.  
  
Author's Note: The next part should be up soon, I already know what I'm gonna put for it... now I just gotta find a time between job shifts to write it ^__^ review please! 


	12. Part 2 11: Between Mars and EarthThe Moo...

Author's Note: Jes a short little chapter filler thing...  
  
Sailor Senshi Next Generation Part 2.11: Between Mars and Earth - The Moon Kingdom  
  
The Moon Kingdom was in the early stages of evacuation when we arrived at the space station. The greetings were solemn from both ends, but regardless of the urgency of the evacuation order, my crew and I were allowed to land and gather supplies.   
  
Gennom surprised me by volunteering to get the supplies himself, saying that he knew what was needed better than I did. However shocked that my own computer was giving the initiative, I was in no mood to question, and so agreed. All five princesses immediately dispersed after the land, with no pranks or jokes left behind to haunt me, even the newest member didn't try and test me.  
  
It was as if they all knew.  
  
I gave a long sigh, sitting in the cockpit of the Earth's Wings, my hands working diligently at the keyboard to update the files and programs while Gennom was out. My head pounded with the strained effort not to let my thoughts cloud my judgment.  
  
Eriol Mien-cha, director of nearly all affairs on the Moon Kingdom and close friend to my father, had met with me upon arrival, telling me of the situations I should be aware of. Eriol was the kind of man who went straight to the point and didn't skip on details. That, along with his close companionship with my father allowed me to trust every word from his mouth, and none of them were good.  
  
Earth's communications had completely been shut down and there hadn't been word of the planet's well-being for a full two months now. Scout satellites had been sent to orbit the Earth, attempting to get picture feedback, but they all were destroyed before activated within orbit. You could feel the tingling of darkness that was devouring the planet, even from the moon's surface.  
  
Several small attacks had been made on the cities, but with no one to defend it, the effects had been pretty devastating.   
  
"The Moon Kingdom has fallen again," Eriol told me, his aged face grave with concern. "We must evacuate to the nearest planets before we are attacked again."  
  
I rolled my shoulders a bit, feeling a shaking feeling course through them. My fingers continued their diligent task.  
  
I had inquired Eriol about my father.  
  
"Any news about him?" I asked, my blue eyes watching the other's face for any sign of falter. We were standing on one of the large balconies in the station, the glass dome above us giving full view of the Earth. I had refused to look at it since my arrival.   
  
Eriol's steel gray eyes seemed to melt at that. He turned his eyes to the glowing blue planet above, silent for a moment as he swallowed the lump in his throat. "We know he's there somewhere," he murmured. "Where, we don't know. We don't even know if he's still alive. It's been a very long time..."  
  
My own eyes closed as the old director trailed off. I nodded, frowning and saying nothing. We left it at that.  
  
After that I had returned to my ship, determined to get my mind off of the worries that followed me. I started doing any task that I found. I cleaned, I organized, I reprogrammed for better efficiency. Anything that I had been wanting to do, but never found time, I did with an unstoppable passion. I refused to give myself time to sit down and think.  
  
I didn't want to reconsider my options.  
  
I jumped a bit as a small blinking noise echoed against the steel walls. I moved my hands over the clicker pad and opened up the awaiting program, bringing up a familiar face as the communication link was brought up.  
  
"Raina! How goes it!"  
  
I grimaced at Kyle's cheery attitude. "It goes, Kyle, it goes," I murmured, my fingers returning to their task. The black haired boy's smile faded, regarding me with in a curious fashion.  
  
"What bug crawled up your but this morning?"  
  
"The Kyle-bug?" I offered.  
  
"The Kyle-bug, though loves nice butts, hates being in them."  
  
"Then how about the Moon Kingdom Bug?"  
  
That killed any trace of his good attitude. He paused, and after a moment, forced a smile. "I take it you heard about the evacuation?" he inquired, his dark blue eyes studying me intently. I forced a smile myself.  
  
"I'm in the middle of it," I answered.  
  
Kyle paused again, suddenly unsure of himself. "I wanted to call you earlier when the order was released, but I couldn't get a hold of you," he started. My hands stopped typing and I rested them down on my knees as he spoke. "I think Gennom has me blocked from his mainframe so I can't make calls."  
  
I forced a chuckle. "Well he's out right now, so that's probably why you got through," I mused aloud. The raven haired boy tilted his head in confusion.  
  
"What?"  
  
"He's out. Shopping actually."  
  
"...He's a computer..."  
  
"Yes, I know that, Kyle."  
  
The perplex look intensified. The smile I gave was almost sincere. "Forget I said a word," I murmured, leaning back in my seat. "You'll understand later."  
  
"So you're on the moon now," he started, changing the subjects. He smiled again. "Only two more planets and you're on your way back here." I had caught a stutter in his voice between 'back' and 'here'. I knew he had wanted to say 'home', but knew it best not to. Pluto wasn't my home, Earth was. Earth was in grave danger, and I was flying right past it and would do so again on the way back to the edge of the galaxy.  
  
I gave a nod, but said nothing else. Kyle frowned deeply, keeping his gaze on me. He cleared his throat after a moment, sitting back himself. "Well I just wanted to call to see how you were," he began again. forcing his smile to look enthusiastic. "You're probably swamped with work and have princesses to attend to. I'll leave you to it. I'll see you when you get back here, okay?"  
  
I nodded and said nothing more as the communication link was ended and Kyle's face disappeared from my screen. My hands were shaking now, and I couldn't still them. Trembling, the moved to the keyboard again, but were barely able to close the programs properly. I stood from my seat and moved myself out of the Earth's Wings.  
  
I started walking about the station, trying to gather my wits and attempting to rid myself of the shakes I had acquired. I looked at no one as they passed, carrying things to the docking area. There weren't many people left, only a few diplomats and scientists, finding that they had the most stuff to transport.  
  
All the citizenry had left a few days before my arrival, making the hallways near abandoned. It felt cold walking through those hallways, and I never felt more alone. My feet stopped themselves as I reached the stop where Eriol and I had talked earlier. He had left to finish some business in the labs in another part of the city, so I couldn't go to him to talk. Even if he was here, I don't think I could find the words to say.  
  
I forced myself to look up at my home world through the thick glass of the dome window. It looked so huge from my standing place, and I couldn't help feeling terrible for being here instead of there. My hands pressed up against the glass as I silently stared at my birth place, the place I had been born to represent.  
  
My head turned slightly as I heard footsteps. It was Gennom, carrying a bag of supplies in one arm. He slowed as he saw me, taking in the situation with a grave expression. He stopped next to me and followed my gaze up to Earth.  
  
"You want to go there, don't you?" he asked, barely above a whisper.  
  
"More than anything."  
  
His black eyes settled themselves on me again, opening his mouth to speak, "You could, you know. It's not that far out of the way and-"  
  
"No," I replied curtly. "If I went, I would want to stay."  
  
"But I could finish the gathering and bring them to Pluto. You could-"  
  
"Gennom!"  
  
The android winced at my harsh tone. I turned to him, trying my best to show no emotion, but failing miserably. My voice cracked as I spoke and I could feel tears threatening to fall. "I am Sailor Earth. It is I who has been charged by Lady Pluto to train the Senshi of the Next Generation." I paused, my eyes drooping into a glare. "That is something I cannot back down from."  
  
Gennom's eyes lowered giving a nod of understanding. I closed my eyes, beginning to move towards the dock again. "Contact the princesses. We leave for Venus once the supplies come."  
  
"Yes Raina," came Gennom's natural reply.  
  
It was done as I had said. The princesses, either sensing my dark mood or being told of it, had scattered to their rooms, saying nothing to me as they went. Gennom took his place in the cockpit with me, silent as well. I could feel my heart scream as the Earth's Wings pulled away from the moon and my home.  
  
Author's Note: Es todo para ahora. This chapter makes me sad... . damn it... 


	13. 2 12: Earth

Author's Note: I feel like an idiot for not posting these sooner... and I feel like a jerk for tormenting my poor characters!!! .  
  
Part 2.12: Earth  
  
The girl frowned, gazing into the glowing viewing sphere in front of her. Her blue eyes held a dark glare as she watched intently. One hand was fiddling nervously with the ends of her short purple hair while the other gripped a small, golden locket tightly.  
  
She heard something move behind her, but didn't flinch. She knew who it was, even without hearing the voice of the other. "She's not going to come," she whined, leaning back a bit. The figure behind her chuckled in amusement.   
  
"Have you no patience, child?" he asked, settling himself in a chair near her. The girl shot him a glare, frowning deeply. His smirk only widened. "I shall take that as a no."  
  
The girl refocused her eyes on the sphere. "I want to meet her face to face, Lord," she whispered. Her voice burned with malicious intent. "It's only right. She stole everything from me. I want to take it all back."  
  
"And soon you shall my child," the figure whispered, loving the hate that reflected in the other's eyes. He shifted slightly, his long crimson hair falling in layers over his shoulder as he leaned over to place a pale hand atop the girl's head. She turned to him, gaze softening a bit at the gentleness of the touch. "But patience must be had. We cannot strike too soon. We must wait until we can get her weakened."  
  
The girl let a malicious grin slip onto her face at the prospects her imagination brought up. Her blue eyes traveled back over to the glowing sphere, the only light provided in the room. She scooted herself closer, her hands coming to rest on the smooth surface. Her fingers slid across it, stroking the figure that she could see through it.  
  
"Of course, my Lord," she whispered. Her smirk widened. "I can wait. Anticipation will make the moment when I have her in my grasp all the sweeter. I shall make her pay for what she has done."  
  
The man gave a dark grin as well. He raised himself out of his seat his dark robes swaying about him as he moved. "While you dream of that moment, Eyno, remember your tasks," he mused as he began to back away from her. His solid black eyes kept a constant gaze on her, even if she didn't move from her spot.  
  
One blue eye turned to gaze over her shoulder at the departing man. "I know, Lord Ares. I have not forgotten my duties." The man smiled, taking another step back. The light was taken from him and the darkness enveloped him, leaving the girl alone in the room. She wistfully turned back to the orb, smiling at it cruelly. The figure in the glass sphere was moving diligently at her tasks, completely unaware that she was being watched.  
  
"Yes, Raina," Eyno whispered, her fingers stroking the glass again. "Patience I will have till I can meet you at last. And then?" The smile widened, the blue eyes showing a deep rage that needed to be sated.   
  
"Then you will be mine."  
  
Eyno's pace through the hallways was fast. She had drawn herself away from the viewing glass and was now making her way though the long halls of Lord Ares' palace. There was no one in sight, but she could feel the presence of others about her. These others weren't human, but that was all for the better. They were servants without minds. Youmas, monsters Lord Ares had created.  
  
The blue and green attire she wore bounced about her with her fast pace. The long sleeves and skirt swished as she walked. Her purple hair flowed easily with her every step.  
  
She turned quickly down another hall, this one ending quickly with a metallic door at the end. A small, square metal plate was imbedded in the black glass wall next to it and Eyno slapped her hand firmly against it. The glass surrounding the panel gave a small glow and the metallic door slid open, allowing her entrance.  
  
The next area she stepped into was poorly lit, showing her downward stairs with great shadows that extended quite far down. She jogged down the steps till she was greeted by another door. Again, she hit a square panel on the wall to open it. The door above slid shut before this door was allowed to open.  
  
Once through, she tapped a similar square on the other side and the door slid shut.  
  
Only few people could touch the access panels. She was proud to be one of them.  
  
The new room she was in was lit by dozens of candles, spread around the room in a seemingly disorganized pattern. The room itself was circular, with white and black tiles that seemed just as randomly placed as the candles. In the center of the room was a wooden floor, slightly raised above the tiles. There sat her duties, waiting for her.  
  
With a sudden patience in her stride, Eyno moved forward through the candlelit room. She stepped slow, making sure each foot landed in the middle of one of the tiles. She made sure to keep the balance even as well, stepping on a black, then a white, and a black again. She was smiling as she did so, finding it much like a game.  
  
The hunched figure didn't stir, hanging by his wrists with his toes barely on the floor. He knew who was approaching him, even if she didn't say a word to him. He refused to move, as if afraid that moving would make her angry. Somewhere he still held hope that she would just leave him be and move on to other business. Perhaps, he thought, she'll think he was asleep and find some pity in her heart to let him rest.  
  
'No,' he thought, killing his hopes before they grew into false lies to which he might grow dependant on. Best to deal with the truth now. 'She already knows I'm awake. But still... anything...  
  
'Anything from having to look at her again.'  
  
There was a deep click as Eyno's boot stepped onto the wooden platform. She moved closer still, but the man did not flinch. He felt her soft, warm hands cup his face and lift it up in such a gentle fashion. He knew better though. He knew what those bloodstained hands were capable of. He may have underestimated them before, but now he knew just how much pain those hands could deliver.  
  
He kept his eyes closed, but he knew she was studying him. To her, he must look ancient by now, even if he had only been in her company like this for a few months. During that time, though, she had filled in his captivity with as much ache as was humanly possible to conceive of, and them some more if she was in a good mood.  
  
He could no longer tell you how many scars lined his face or how many trails of dried blood stained his body. With each touch of her hand, gentle or otherwise, the memory of each of those scars came back and he had to use all his strength just to keep from screaming with the tears that threatened to come.  
  
He was thinner now, and he seemed to get thinner everyday. They wanted him alive, otherwise they would have starved him. He had indulged in their gruel when it was given to him, striving to stay alive in any way he could. Now he found that staying alive was no longer important to him. With this kind of life, he wished no more than to die. It would be better if he died. That way, they would never know.  
  
He had forced himself not to eat the past two days. The food was pushed to the corners of his prison to be eaten by rats. When the two monsters for guards, eerily human in appearance and mind, noticed this, they reported it to this girl. The girl immediately ordered him to be strung up as he was now for a days time as punishment, then to be given food again. The man knew that if he refused the food after he was pulled down, his guards would attempt force feed him. It was not an experience he was eager to try. His guards were far from gentle.  
  
The hands dropped his face, allowing his head to hang once again. The sound of deliberately slow footsteps echoed off of ever surface back to the man, making it nearly deafening. He listened as the steps lead the girl to a table he knew was behind him. He heard as her fingertips traced along the wooden surface slowly.  
  
"It's unhealthy to starve yourself, you know," Eyno mused. The man said nothing in reply. "You need to stay healthy for us, Tanaka. We still need you very much right now." The man found in uncontrollably eerie how her voice stayed so sweet. It sounded as if it actually cared. The man knew better.  
  
When the man still remained silent, Eyno frowned. Her fingers curled around the leather handle of one of the many weapons at her disposal on the table. This one was a whip. She pulled it off the table, feeling a rush of adrenaline flow through her veins. Fluidly, she moved in front of him again, looking at his hanging head and wondering for a moment if he was dead.  
  
"She's abandoned you."  
  
That statement made the man flinch and Eyno smirked at this. She actually so much as let herself chuckle with dark amusement. "You still had hope that she would come and rescue you?" she asked in a taunting tone.  
  
"No," the man said finally, his voice cracked and parched. It was the quietest thing Eyno had ever heard, but she heard every strain he took to speak it. She smiled again.  
  
"Good," the girl began, setting an easy pace to circle about the dangling man. "You always were the realistic type, Tanaka. It's good to know that you haven't started believing false hopes quite yet. It means you've still got a lot of stamina left in you."  
  
The man gave a grunt, his chains clinging against each other softly with the movement his body made. "I'd rather she not come to rescue me," he murmured. "Just so long as she comes to take care of you and Ares."  
  
Eyno sneered behind him, but said nothing cross in retort. "When she does come, Lord Ares and I will be ready for her," she mused, stopping in front of him again. Her hand flexed around the whip, the leather creaking as she did so. "Why do you have so much faith in that puppet? If she knew the truth, she wouldn't be fighting for you at all."  
  
Tanaka finally opened his piercing blue eyes to glare at Eyno. "Because I love her. She's my daughter."  
  
The sound of Eyno's hand slamming against Tanaka's jaw echoed off the marble walls. The man gasped at the pain that arose from the hit and choked a bit on the blood that filled his mouth. He spit as much blood out as he could, watching the drops stain the wood beneath him. He finally brought his blue eyes back to meet the blue eyes of the other.  
  
"That's cruel, papa," she muttered, her face looking lifelessly cold. Her eyes promised him nothing but pain. Swiftly, she moved behind him, dropping the length of the whip to let it drag on the floor. She took a strong stance behind him and pulled the whip behind her.   
  
Tanaka's hands snaked themselves to hold the chains tightly, his entire body bracing itself for the blows that would soon come. Eyno's mouth twitched slightly. "Where are the remaining pieces of the Silver Imperial Crystal?" she asked in a dead voice. When no reply came, she snapped the whip forward and the room was filled with the man's screams.  
  
Author's Note: If you hate Eyno already, raise your hand! *raises hand and waves it furiously* 


	14. Part 2 12: Between Earth and Venus

Author's Note: Yeah. Long time since updating. I kind of have forgotten about some of my stories, but I was looking through my drawings and noticed a few newer ones of this story and was like "HEY! I need to update!" As a side note, I now havea deviantart account where I am loading my artwork. There isn't any up for this story YET, but I am currently working on a picture of Raina which is turning out kind of cool. Hopefully that will be uploaded soon. The site is: http/isadora-legata. Enjoy!

lordess

Between Earth and Venus

I didn't know which bothered me more; the hideous pranks that left hours of clean-up time or the deafening silence that left hours of contemplating time.

Earth was far behind us, but my thoughts of it remained. I started occupy myself by updating and remodeling some of the system functions. I knew Alita had been secretly visiting to do the updates herself, for I had been watching the steady increase in efficiency. I decided not to scold her for disobeying just yet, since nothing had started going haywire. I had noticed, however, that some of the older programs were having problems dealing with the newer programs. I was very tempted to lift her ban from Gennom's mainframe and have her fix that problem.

But, of course, then I always thought of whipped cream pies and goo all over my room, as well as a few other things. Such ideas always killed the notion to lift the ban.

The princess of Neptune was now locked away in her room, as well as the other princesses in my care. Gennom was at the other end of the ship, checking our supplies again, as he always did now between planets.

That left me and the screen in front of me.

Not much as far as entertainment was concerned.

The silence was quite unnerving to boot. It was alright while I was having a hard time with personal problems, but now it was just getting to feel unnatural. I had started collecting the senshi a number of weeks ago and I had just started to get into the habit of small arguments and pranks bouncing across the ship. The lack of that made me nervous.

Perhaps they were all together planning their biggest prank yet...?

I shuddered at the thought.

I stopped my work on the mainframe and leaned back in my chair, contemplating my crew members. They were an interesting bunch, to say the least. I really was beginning to wonder how they would take the training sessions back on Pluto.

Alita would most likely lead the scholastic part of the training. She was a definite genius compared to the others. She was a quick learner too, from what I have seen, and an eager one as well. Out of all the senshi I have met thus far, she seemed the most tolerable (if you forget the fact that she's probably more concerned with expanding her knowledge than the safety of others).

Ookami would definitely be good as far as speed went. She had a definite aptitude and interest for dirt bikes and would probably be quite good at any chasing exercises that might come up.

And Akutenshi?

Well... If all else fails she could scare her enemies to death.

Kiekan would definitely be the strong leader of physical combat. Her only weakness in that field is her unwillingness to give everything she's got into every move. She lacks the motivation (or courage, I'm not sure) to push herself further.

I'm not sure what I think about Yukai just yet. She's extremely young, but from the glances I've caught of her, she's quite energetic and trusting. She's also very childish, but she seems to have more confidence than the others. That confidence would make for good magic proficiency.

I paused a moment, blinking a bit. That left only two senshi to retrieve; Venus and Mercury. Then I'd be on my way back to Pluto and the temptation to go to Earth would disappear... hopefully. That would put me a few steps more towards my goal. A very nice thought.

Still. The silence was VERY unnerving.

Giving a deep sigh, I leaned back to the keyboard to continue the upgrade. I was planning on finishing it all before our arrival at Venus, and things seemed to be going very good... until a warning started flashing on the screen. My mouth twitched a bit as it read that it could not find the files it needed. I knew what _I_ needed then. Alita.

Growling, I pushed myself from the chair and started on my way out of the cockpit. The metal door slid open and shut with my leave. My eyes darted about the hallway, feeling the pressure of the deafening silence start closing in again. Stiffly I began moving through the Earth's Wings.

When I reached the hallway of the senshi, I went straight to Alita's door. From inside the sound of a violin playing softly could be heard. I rapped on the door with my knuckles and the playing stopped. The door was opened and the red head blinked back at me, her violin and bow held in one hand. She smiled pleasantly at me. "Good evening, there something I can do for you?" she asked.

"Yeah, you can tell me what happened to some of the files on my computer? They're missing," I muttered, crossing my arms. Alita blinked at me, tilting her head to the side.

"I'm banned from touching the computer," the red head replied. "In fact, I believe that I was threatened to be killed if I ever went near it again."

"That didn't stop you from transferring Gennom into a body, did it?"

Alita smiled a little, unable to hide it. "I can't help it. It's just so painful to see all that old machinery and technology!"

I sighed, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. "That doesn't explain why some of the files have been deleted," I mused aloud. She shook her head at me, setting down the violin and bow on the side table.

"But Raina, I wouldn't have outright deleted anything, not unless I immediately updated it," she answered.

"A lot of the files are connected, so it could be that you did up date them, but didn't update the connections."

"That's possible, though not probable. Gennom helped me trace back pathways in the system so everything would stay interlinked while the updates continued."

"So Gennon's helping you, huh?"

Alita's hand flew to her mouth. "Oops," she said. "I wasn't supposed to say that."

"Raina!"

I turned at the sound of my name to see Gennon running towards us. He stopped, seemingly catching his breath (though I really don't see why he needed breath, being an android) before speaking. "Some of the inventory is missing," he said. Immediately after he finished that statement, his body shook a bit and his eyes unfocused. He rubbed his head.

"What things?" I asked.

"I don't know," he answered. "Things were erased from my databanks, so I don't know exactly what's gone, but I know that there's less there than what we started with!" Again, his body shook and his eyes glazed over for a moment.

"You alright, Gennom?" Alita asked, openly concerned.

"I don't know. It's like there's gaps in my processing it's-" A jolt. "really weird, but nothing I can explain."

I looked to Alita. "Did you do it?" I asked in honest curiosity, not an ounce of accusation in my voice. Okay, maybe a little.

"No, I wouldn't do that," she said. "I respect machinery, and I wouldn't tamper with a ship while we're in the middle of space. Too much could go wrong."

"Can you fix it?"

"Does this mean my ban is lifted?"

I paused a moment before pointing towards the cockpit. "Go. Fix it."

Alita smiled and immediately started on her way. Gennom followed, probably meaning to help the best he could in his state. I watched them go and heaved another sigh. So much for that silence. I was beginning to want it back now.

One of the other doors opened and Ookami peered out. "Raina! Just the person I was looking for!" she said, coming out of her room. "Listen, I've noticed that I'm missing stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" I asked, letting my arms fall to my sides.

"You know… stuff."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Stuff."

"Would this stuff be things related to pranks that you planned on pulling in the future and as such, I don't want to know you even had them to begin with?" I asked.

"Maybe."

"Then you're loss, I'm not helping you." I turned around and immediately exited the hallway, heading towards the supply area to see if I could pinpoint by eye what Gennom couldn't through his database.

"But RAINA!" Ookami whined as she followed me. "This stuff is really important to me! Aren't you concerned that you have a THEIF on your ship."

I noted Keikan walking towards us from the other end of the hall, a confused look on her face. I kept my attention on the blue haired girl behind me however. "Of course I am. The one that's gotten into my supplies in the back of the ship. I'm also concerned about whoever has been messing with my computer." I stopped as I reached the silver haired princess. "Did you do it?"

Keikan made a face. "Do I look like I know anything about computers?" she asked.

"What about the missing stuff, anything to do with you?"

"I thought you had locks on all that stuff."

"Did you break through those locks?"

"Haven't quite mastered lock picking yet, but I'm taking a course over the summer." I noted the sarcasm in her voice, rolled my eyes skyward, and moved past her and continued on ward. Behind me, I heard her mutter quietly to Ookami, "Would now be a bad time to mention that I lost Socks?"

Socks? What did I care about clothes!

"Ugh! Why did you have to tell me that!" Ookami whined in her high pitched voice. I heard her give an aggravated grunt as she continued to follow me. Keikan had apparently decided to join the gang.

Apparently, I missed the whole 'socks' idea.

Oh well, I had more important things to worry about.

I reached the back storage area and typed in a code, placing my hand on the scanner for a final identification check. The doors slid open and I walked inside as the lights flickered back on. I looked over the items in the room, the rows of shelves, and wondered what I was thinking when I thought I'd be able to pinpoint what was missing?

I looked over the mess of stuff and did note that it looked a little bit emptier than normal, but I'd be damned if I could figure out why. I crossed my arms and looked back at the two princesses. "Where are Akutenshi and Yukai?" I asked.

Ookami shrugged, but Keikan was informed enough to answer. "Akutenshi is in her room, and as for the runt," the silver haired princess gave a snort. "Who knows where that little brat went off to."

"I'm taking it you don't like her," I mused.

"She annoys the crap out of me," she responded. "Wouldn't leave me alone and wanted to play will everything in my room."

"You could have just kicked her out."

"I did. And then she cried."

I rolled my eyes, shaking my head as I turned back to the room. I blinked as I heard a clanking noise. My gaze followed the source of the noise, the two princesses behind me growing still as they listened too.

And then there it was, three little toy soldiers and a little cannon came plodding out from behind the extra fuel tank. I blinked at them, wondering how the hell they had gotten back here in the first place. The three soldiers stopped about five feet from the three of us and we continued to stare back at them blankly.

Pop.

I blinked as something hit me on the forehead.

Pop. Pop.

I looked to Ookami and Keikan, who had also been hit on the forehead, each of us sporting a suction-cup projectile shoot by the little toy soldiers. I frowned, reaching up to pull the thing off. It wouldn't come off. I pulled harder, and it still wouldn't come off.

"What the hell is this?" the Jupiter princess asked, pulling at the little dart on her own forehead with ltitle success.

"WAH! Get it off of me!" Ookami shrieked.

I grumbled and turned back just to see the little men on the retreat. "Oh no you don't!" I shouted, immediately thundering after them.

And that's when the lights went out.

All three of us froze, going silent.

"What just happened?" I heard the blue haired princess ask.

"I think we just lost power," I muttered in reply.

"Can we still fly?" Keikan asked.

"Technically, yes."

"Oh. Okay."

"Landing is a different story."

"Crap."

And that's when I felt it. Something slide against my leg. I felt my entire spine snap to attention in the darkness and my eyes grew wide. I felt compelled to ask.

"Hey Keikan?"

"Yeah?"

"What did you mean earlier by 'socks'…?"

"Socks. My snake."

"I thought so."

…

"EEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"


	15. Part 2 13: Venus

**_Author's Note_**: Yeeeeah, I've been putting things off. Personally I blame school. But I finally got the next chapter done! YAY! cheers

And as a reminder, I've been trying to do some illustrations for this story and uploading them on DeviantArt : Isadora-legata. Check it out .

**Venus**

"GET OFF MY SHIP!"

"But Raina!"

"NOW!"

"I'm really sorry, Miss Raina… I didn't think that-"

"No! No excuses! GET OFF MY SHIP!"

"I'm not getting off! I didn't even DO anything!"

My gaze shifted sharply to Keikan, my lips twisting into a frown. "Didn't do anything?" I repeated. Her strong gaze faltered a bit as I raised my pant leg to show a bandage similar to the one I had had on my arm. "Your damn snake bit me. AGAIN!" I shouted.

"That's not my fault," she muttered darkly.

"You brought the damn thing with you, didn't you?"

"So what?" she asked, sneering. "Alita brought her creepy holograms, didn't she?" The Neptune princess turned a slight shade of pink and looked away, obviously not wanting to be brought into the conversation. "And the Mars brat brought her cat."

"That isn't the point, the point is-" I stopped mid sentence, blinking at Yukai. "You brought a cat?"

The youngest princess' eyes grew wider and her eyes flitted between Keikan and me, finally landing on Keikan with an angry expression. "You weren't supposed to tell!" she shouted, stamping her foot.

The silver haired princess only sneered.

"How the hell did you get a cat onto my ship?" I asked, hands on my hips. "The snake I can understand how it can be hidden, but a cat?"

Dark purple eyes glared at me from behind black bangs. "What's it matter to you, anyway?" she asked in a bitter tone. "You take me away from my sister and then scold me for bringing a friend along? You're heartless."

"Oh, don't even _try_ the pity act with me, little girl," I said, waving my finger. "You almost crashed my ship."

Immediately, she jumped on the defense. "I told you, it wasn't my fault!" she shouted. "I just wanted to play solitaire! And all this useless junk came up and then I-"

"ENOUGH! I've heard the story seven times!" I snapped. "And it gets shakier every time. Right now I want you all off my ship. YOU!" I pointed to Keikan. "YOU are to buy a glass tank for that snake of yours and he is NOT to leave it under ANY circumstances!"

The Jupiter Princess sighed, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. "YOU!" I said, moving to Yukai. "Stop pouting. You are to go find a toy box for all those evil little things and when I decide to let you all on again, you are going to find every last one of them and put them in that box. Then you will return all the stuff you've been stealing-"

"I was borrowing-"

"AH! No. We didn't know. Therefore it was stealing."

"Yeah," Ookami snapped.

"YOU!" I said, pointing to Ookami. "You've been stealing too."

"Have not!"

"Then how did some of my clothes end up in your closet?"

"You've been going through my stuff!"

"It's MY SHIP! You're just living on it." My gaze turned to Alita. "And your ban is one mistake away from being reinstated."

"But I didn't-"

"A certain profile is missing… again."

"Oh. Yeah. I did that."

Last but not least, I turned to Akutenshi. Her dead blue eyes stared back into mine and I felt a chill run down my spine. "And I don't know what part you played, but I sure as hell know you aren't innocent," I told her. She didn't even flinch. My eyes turned back to drift over the lot of them. "So you all are going to stay off my ship until I say you can re-board which will be sometime after I'm not angry anymore. I suggest you find a way to entertain yourselves because it might take a while."

One by one, the princesses filed off the ship. Keikan was last and I saw her give a sneer as she looked out at the Venus landscape. In some distant part of my mind, I recalled that the citizens of Jupiter and Venus didn't get along, but at that point, I didn't care. When the last of their pampered feet had left through the exit hatch and slammed the door button and the stairs pulled itself back in, the hatch closing.

My hands clenched and unclenched themselves at my side as I moved back into the ship, back up to the front. Gennom was waiting, leaning against the control panel with a worried look on his face. "Are you mad at me too?" he asked, watching as I sat into the main chair.

"No," I muttered, slouching a bit.

"Oh, good," he replied, smiling a little. "I thought you'd be upset because I was helping Alita."

My eyes slowly turned to meet Gennom's and he froze up a bit. He offered a nervous smile. "Oh," he said. "You didn't remember that…"

"No," I said again, shaking my head and straitening up in the chair.

"I'll go…" he paused, eyes flickering back and forth as his mind tried to come up with an excuse. "…do… something."

"Wise decision," I muttered darkly as he scampered out of the room. Once the door to the room closed I heaved a very large sigh, leaning my head back. To hell with saving Earth, I was going to die of stress before I even got back to Pluto. Maybe I'd just kill them all. Yeah. That'd be fun.

Satisfied with my decision, I leaned forward again and got into the computer systems, starting to work on the remaining bugs (including putting in Akutenshi's ship member profile back into the database). As I worked, my stress level started to decrease a bit.

Maybe things weren't what they seemed, as I recalled Yukai's statement about pulling her away from her sister. The reality of it did seem kind of harsh. I imagined myself in there shoes, living peacefully enough, hearing only tidbits and rumors of a war on another planet when suddenly this stranger appears out of nowhere, an takes you away from everything you've ever known to go fight some huge darkness bent on taking over the galaxy.

When I looked at it that way, I began to feel sympathy for the princesses on my ship. They weren't doing these pranks out of malice. They just were homesick. They wanted to be with their families and friends. They weren't evil, just misunderstood.

And as I was thinking this, so deeply was I thinking, I failed to hear the little put-put of a tiny engine of a toy cannon. I didn't notice it until it was right in front of me. And when I did finally notice, I didn't even have time to say a proper curse word.

"Oh, fu-"

Pop.

My hand slammed down so hard on that toy, it broke into pieces. I didn't even bother to pick up the pieces, just got out of my chair and headed for the bathroom to spend another hour trying to get the super-glued suction cup arrow off my forehead.

And to think I had almost started to feel bad for them.

Oh… were they gonna get it…

Venus, in many respects, was much like Jupiter on a smaller scale. There was an abundance of greenery everywhere, only much more tamed than Jupiter's marshy jungles. Everything grown seemed to have been controlled through every stage of its development. And Keikan hated it.

The reason being was that the planets Venus and Jupiter were in a bit of a competition with each other. The inhabitants boosted about their own planet being so much better than the others, even though there were only slight differences. But it was the differences that they fought over.

Keikan gave a deep sigh, exiting the pet shop, having bought a glass tank, per Raina's orders, for Socks. She didn't feel like crossing the good captain today, perhaps because she was in a bit of a foul mood. She hated this planet, and the last thing she wanted was for Raina to get so upset that she would leave Keikan stranded here.

God, that would be hell.

She hated this place. She hated that she had BOUGHT something and had helped the economy. But she really wasn't in the mood to be left here. Must take the lesser of two evils.

The tank would be delivered to the Earth's Wings and Keikan would install it and set it up once Raina was in the good graces to let them back on. Till then, she was stuck. She looked down the street, watching Alita, Oookami and Yukai do their own little thing. Akutenshi had disappeared… again.

Alita was looking into what was probably a music shop. The little runt was looking at a leather jacket, and the littlest runt was inspecting a toyshop, running back to either the other little runt or Alita to show off what she had found. She felt she _should_ go and join them. This was her future team and all. Sailor Soldiers, all of them. They were supposed to stick together and be friends. Honestly, they bugged the crap out of her.

Maybe not Alita. But that was because Alita didn't feel the need to fill the silence with constant chatter.

But the little runts…

Keikan had little patience for people younger than her.

She'd just sneak off. Maybe go have a bite to eat somewhere quiet. Hide away till Raina summoned them back to the ship and maybe then she wouldn't have to socialize with the princess of this god-forsaken planet. She could just lock herself in her room and refuse to come out until she could get a good distance away.

Yes, the silver haired princess decided. That's _exactly _what she'd do.

So she turned around and stumbled a bit as she nearly ran into Akutenshi.

The Saturn princess looked at her with that same dead look she used on everybody, only Kiekan could see a bit through it. Akutenshi was amused.

The Jupiter princess frowned a bit as she heard a deep croak and her eyes settled on a small toad sitting on the other girl's shoulder. She sneered, having a distaste for the creature already. "What the _hell_ is that?"

"Bug repellant."

That made Keikan give a little smile. "Well when you're done with it, let me feed it to Socks."

Akutenshi said nothing and continued past, on her own little way. Keikan shrugged and went along in the opposite direction. She made sure to turn on the next street to avoid the eyes of the four others and hopefully prevent them from following. The last thing she needed was the princess little brat to start nagging on her again and start crying when she was pushed aside.

No, alone was best for now.

She wandered the streets a while, sneering at the floral shop, as they _obviously_ didn't know what made for a good bouquet. Everything on this planet seemed just a little less than what was offered on Jupiter. It made her miss home.

Of course, then she thought of her mother, and decided that traveling wasn't so bad.

She ultimately ended up in a little restaurant in the not so good side of town (though in her opinion, Venus didn't _have_ a good side of town). It was a small enough diner, out of the way, that hopefully the other four's eyes wouldn't find, and hopefully Raina too. She slid in and seated herself at a table in the middle, seeing no 'Wait to be Seated' sign.

She sighed, making herself comfortable as a busser came to give her a menu. "You're server will be with you in a moment. Did you want something to drink?"

Kiekan smiled, pleasantly enough, and answered, "Just a water."

The busser, meanwhile, walked back towards the server's station, meaning to refill some people's drinks before cleaning up some tables. "Hey, Musouka," the busser said. "There's another one at table seven. She needs water."

Musouka smiled, turning her light green eyes towards the busser. "Of course," she said. "I'll do it right-" And she stopped. Her eyes had fallen upon the girl sitting at table seven and had hardened immediately. The busser paused in her duties, seeing the other's expression.

"What's wrong?"

Musouka blew a strand of dirty blonde hair out of her face, frowning deeply. "Oh nothing," she said, grabbing a glass and filling it with water. "Just getting the princess some water."

The busser looked after Musouka with a confused look, but shook her head and went back to refilling some customer's drinks. The blonde waitress forced a smile on her face, heading towards table seven, watching the girl's back as she approached. Two feet from the table she 'tripped'. Actually, to anyone watching, you could see the 'trip' was really more of a skip and completely intentional. But no one was actually watching, and Musouka used the 'trip' to jerk her hand forward, drenching the silver haired girl with water. "Oops. Sorry." Her tone didn't seem as apologetic as the words.

Keikan had hunched up her shoulders at the shock of cold water drenching her. Her mouth hung open in shock. Her eyes slowly turned to face the waitress and a series of emotions flitted though her dark green eyes and the one that settled in them made them appear darker. She was standing up in such a swift motion that the chair clattered backward.

Musouka could barely hide her smile, even as Keikan had grabbed the front of her shirt. "You," the silver haired girl hissed, making the word sound like venom given voice.

The blond held up her hands in front of her, giving her best innocent look. "I apologize, _ma'am_. It was an accident," she said, her own tone darkening, the smile staying firmly on her face.

"Is there a problem, ladies?" asked a man as he started walking towards him. His voice was calm, but his eyes were worried as he watched Keikan. "I'm Mr. Brown, owner of this restaurant. Did Musouka do something to upset you?"

"Yes," the taller girl answered, turning to look at Mr. Brown. "In fact she di-"

It seemed that one look away was all Musouka needed. Her foot slipped behind Keikan's knee and knocked forward. The silver haired girl fell to the side, letting go of the other girl's shirt and catching herself with her hands before the rest of her body hit the ground. She looked up to see Musouka running out the front door and used her crouched position to rocket herself forward, out the door.

Musouka let out a melodic sounding laugh as she ran, her long hair flying behind her. "Catch me if you can, Keikan!" she shouted.

"You better hope I don't, Musouka!" Keikan shouted back, forcing her legs to run full tilted after the blonde. "Cause if I do, Venus won't HAVE a princess any more."

After finally dislodging the suction cup arrow from my forehead (though the little red circle was still there), I made my way off the ship and headed for the palace. The best decision now was to just get the princess and the crystal into the ship and GO. The faster we got back to Pluto, the better. Then, oh then, I would have my precious space. Even just one night without having to worry about missing items, bloody sinks, toy soldiers, screwed up computer systems, or snakes. That would be paradise.

I was rubbing my bandaged arm subconsciously when a blur shot in front of me. I stumbled back a few steps, blinking in confusion at why that face seemed so familiar when a second blur whizzed by. The second was definitely Keikan. I blinked, shrugged and started to continue on. Then that nagging little voice in my head decided to remind me again that citizens of Jupiter and citizens of Venus don't really get along and wondered what poor sod had angered Keikan enough to result in a full tilt chase down.

And that's when I realized where I had seen that first blur.

Sure the picture was old, but I remembered those green eyes.

"Oh, hell."

I immediately turned on my heel and started chasing after the two, catching sight of the two just around the corner. The two of them were much more skilled at evading people than I was, as I learned by nearly running over at least three people on that stretch of street alone. I spotted Alita's red hair in the crowd as she watched after where Keikan had run and I shouted to her as I ran past.

"All of you! Front of the palace! NOW!"

I didn't have time to wait for the response, still trying desperately to catch up with the two. The problem was, they were pulling _ahead_. 'So this is what she's like when she's giving her all,' I mused darkly, willing the muscles I hadn't used in so long to get back into top gear. 'Great. So in order to _give_ her all, I have to get _her_ to piss her off. Oh yes. This just keeps getting better.'

"She started it."

I glared. "I don't want any attitude form you," I snapped. "I just want to know what the hell happened here."

The group had assembled in one of the waiting rooms in the Venus palace after I had I finally managed to stop the chase by throwing a series of threats Keikan's way. By Princess Musouka's good graces, we were now using this room for interrogation. The princess of Venus was sitting calmly a good distance away from Keikan, looking poised and collected. The act was so good, I almost bought it.

"Princess Keikan came into Charlie's Diner, where I work," she began, with all the vocal grace training can buy. "I didn't recognize her at first and I was assigned to her table. I was coming over to bring her some water when I tripped and the water spilled all over her." The imaginary halo over her head must be glowing quite brightly.

"Tripped, my ass," the silver haired girl said from her other chair, her fingers gripping the arms of the chair so tightly her knuckles were turning white. "You _knew_ who I was and you _intentionally_ threw water on me!"

"I assure you, I did not."

Behind me, the peanut gallery began muttering to each other.

"Why would a princess waste her time _working_?" Ookami muttered. "Doesn't she have _better_ things to do? Like, I don't know, world peace or something…"

"Some cultures value the understanding of what hard work really is," Alita said in a curious tone. I heard Ookami snort and I rolled my eyes. I opened my mouth to speak on the topic of the argument at hand.

"Ribbit."

The room got quiet and all eyes turned to the little toad sitting on Akutenshi's shoulder. I blinked, turning to look at the Saturn princess' face to see if I could determine a reason for this, but her blank expression gave me nothing to go off of. "Akutenshi, get rid of that thing," I said in exasperation. She closed her blue eyes and moved to the door, even the sound of her footsteps disappearing as she left the room.

A chill passed through us.

"I heard that the princess of Saturn had previously been committed to an institute for the clinically insane," Muskouka muttered, watching the doorway with a little bit of quiet awe, maybe even a mix of fear. "Was it true?"

"Yes," Ookami said flatly.

"_Really_?!" Yukai asked, suddenly interested in the conversation.

"We don't know that for sure," Alita said, smiling with a bit of a strain.

"We're getting off subject," I muttered sourly. "Back to the story at hand-"

"Why _were_ you working, if you don't mind me asking," Ookami asked, eyebrow raised, eyes scrutinizing.

My eye twitch had returned. "Ookami, can you just let me handle this?" I asked, turning to look at her warningly. And that's when it happened. When my back was turned, Keikan just _had_ to give her two cents.

"Tch, the way the royal family here spends money, she probably _has_ to work."

Musouka moved so fast that I barely had time to restrain her from striking Keikan, who sat there with a smirk on her face. "Not so poised now, are we?" she asked in a mocking tone.

The Venus princess seemed to relax in my grip at that comment, so I reluctantly let go of her. She straightened her posture, smoothing out her skirt. "I'll have you know that the people of Venus respect a leader who can understand her people. My family takes _pride_ in our ability to work with our people to create a better society!"

"Liar," the blue haired girl behind me said with a snort. I turned to glare at her and to add a meaningful threat to my already spoken instructions for her to butt out. But the look in her eyes made me stop and decide to let the situation unfold a bit more.

"What did you say?" Musouka asked, frowning deeply as she looked at Ookami.

"I called you a liar."

The Venus princess turned to me, appearing outraged. "Are you just going to let her speak to me like that?"

"She's a princess, same as you," I mused. "I suppose she can say whatever she wants."

Her anger jumped up at least two points and she opened her mouth to protest, but Ookami cut her off. "I don't think you're parents even know you _have_ a job."

I watched Musouka's face carefully for a reaction, surprised to see her eyes flicker a trace of apprehension. Well I'll be damned. Ookami was _right_.

"First off, you don't seem the type to obey your parents," the Uranus princess mused, crossing her arms. "Much less take _pride _in it. Secondly, if you _did_ take a royal-family-pride thing in your job, then you wouldn't have spilled water all over Keikan."

"I told you, I _tripped-_"

"Wrong. You recognized her. There's no way you couldn't have. Jupiter and Venus _hate_ each other. You two probably have each other's images burned into your brains under the category 'kill at first chance'. So if you were really so high-and-mighty-goodie-two-shoes and was working at that job for your family _honor_ you wouldn't have doused Keikan, if only for the sake of your family, if not for the sake of diplomacy." Ookami paused, leaning back a bit with a smile. "You're parents don't even know you _have_ a job."

Musouka was dead silent, staring with wide eyes. I gave a long, low whistle. "I think I underestimated you," I muttered, half a smile on my face.

"Of course you did," Ookami said, looking obstinate.

"So how does it feel to lose, Musouka?" Keikan cooed darkly. The blonde opened her mouth, but I stopped the argument.

"Out."

Keikan looked at me confused.

"I said, get out." I glared at her and pointed at the door.

"But Raina, you know I was telling the truth now!" she protested.

"Yes. I believe you. You won, congratulations. Doesn't mean you have grounds to start another fight."

"That's _all_ the reason to-"

"And that's why I'm asking you to leave. Because I don't want to hear it. Do it on your own time." I gave a sigh, crossing my arms. "I've got to speak with the princess before talking with his and her majesties, so you can just go and busy yourself or go back to the ship."

Keikan stood slowly, glaring daggers at me before pushing past and heading out of the door.

"The rest of you can go back to the ship too," I muttered, waving offhandedly. "I'll tell Gennom you're on your way."

The talk with Musouka and the King Itachi and Queen Sasuka went quickly, namely because of the deal I had made with Musouka. If she went willingly enough and didn't cause any problems, I wouldn't tell her parents about her part-time job. I suppose I should have felt guilty about using her little secret to exploit her, but after everything else that had happened, I didn't. The King and Queen seemed reluctant to let their only daughter go out into the universe without chaperone (apparently I didn't count) but her enthusiasm changed their minds. Her acting skills weren't half bad…

I contacted Gennom to make sure all the princesses had made it back to the ship alive, and he reported positively. Keikan had boarded last, apparently taking a while to vent her all her anger out, for Gennom said nothing about her temper. While Musouka was sent to go pack her things, I was sent to go to the vault to retrieve the Venus crystal. Easy enough, I told myself. The day was almost complete. We could be all on the ship and ready to depart by tonight. It made me feel much more relaxed inside.

The guards nodded their greetings to me as I approached. "I'm Raina Saverse Invan," I said with a bow. "The king and queen have sent me to retrieve the Venus crystal."

I felt a queasy feeling pass through my stomach at the nervous looks the two exchanged. "Ma'am," the one on the left started, pausing to clear his throat before continuing. "One of your crew members already picked it up."

That made my stomach drop. "Excuse me?" I asked.

The two shifted uncomfortably before answering. "One of your crew members came by about half an hour ago, said you had ordered her to come pick it up while you were with the king and queen."

"And you _gave_ it to her," I stated darkly, not even making it a question.

"Ma'am, if we by chance gave it to the wrong person, we'll take full responsibility and go retrieve it."

I lifted a hand to quiet them, closing my eyes as I felt a headache starting. "Don't worry about it," I muttered. "I know _exactly_ who has it."

I left the palace quickly, informing the royal family where my ship was docked so they could send along Musouka when she was ready. I don't remember seeing much on my way back to the Earth's Wings, my mind in an angry haze. I ignored Gennom as he greeted me when I boarded, instead made my way straight to the hall of the Senshi.

The Earth's crystal gave off a quick dim shine as my hand fell on one of the door handles and turned. I stormed into Jupiter's room, stopping in front of a surprised looking Keikan.

"How the hell did you get in? I thought only _our_ crystals could-"

"Where is it," I asked darkly, ignoring her question.

"I don't know what you're talking-"

"The _crystal_. Where is it?"

"What makes you think _I_ have it?"

"Cause you're the only one stupid enough to take it."

"Excuse me?"

She was standing up now, using her inch height over me as leverage to try to intimidate me. I was too angry for it to work. "I told you to do the fighting on your own time, _not_ mine," I said sternly. "You want to pick fights with her? Fine. Do it in a way that _doesn't _affect me and my job! Because the longer it takes for me to do _my _job, the longer and more miserable I'm going to make _your_ job. Is that understood?"

Keikan's green eyes narrowed. "Is that a threat?" she asked.

"You bet your ass it is," I replied. "Now give me that crystal, because we're not leaving this planet until you do."

The Jupiter princess watched me warily for a few moments, as if trying to decide just how far she could push me. Finally she shoved her hand into her pocket and produced the golden yellow crystal, laying it in my awaiting hand. I closed my fingers around it and began walking out.

"I'm going to hold you to that," she said after me.

"Hold me to what?" I asked.

"That as long as it doesn't affect you or your job, I can do whatever I want." A smirk flitted across her features.

"That's the way it always was," I muttered. "It just took you guys forever to figure it out."

The unnatural silence had fallen on the ship again, but I didn't mind it. A deal between me and the princesses had been struck, and no doubt they all knew about it by now. As long as it didn't interfere with me, as long as I never found out, they could do as they wanted. They all felt as if they had gained a piece of their freedom back.

Musouka had settled into her room, and the others had turned in for the night while Gennom and I sat in the cockpit, preparing for liftoff. No doubt each and everyone of them was scheming, changing and rearranging their pranks and plans to be more _silent_. But this didn't make me worried.

Keikan had gotten her snake a tank, so Socks was no longer a worry. Alita and her holograms had been hard at work fixing the computer systems and it was almost back to normal. Yukai had put away her toys in her new toybox and was content with playing with her cat that I grudgingly allowed her to keep. Akutenshi… well, at least she had gotten rid of the frog. And Ookami didn't completely despise me anymore.

It would probably be a jinx if I said that things were starting to look up. After all, it probably wasn't true. Sure, I had reached an agreement with the princesses, but when we got to Pluto, Kyle, Setsuna and I would have a hard time making sure they stared reaching agreements with each other. That was the only way this team of princesses could ever hope to become good senshi.

But I couldn't help but feel good. Because there was only one senshi left to collect.

Gennom's Computer Bank: Crew Members  
Name: Musouka Dremu  
Age: 15  
Senshi: Venus  
Appearance: 5'4" – long dirty blonde hair- light green eyes

Other Distinguishing Features: none  
Background: Musouka Dremu is the only child of Venus, daughter of King Itachi and Queen Sasuka. She held a job as a waitress without her parents knowing and has a deeply rooted hatred/rivalry with Keikan. She passes for a good actress when she needs to get out of trouble, is quick on her feet, and enjoys singing.


End file.
